Mercenary For Hire
by Tsubasa Kya
Summary: Leaning on the boat rail, he realized that the expensive cost was why no one traveled off the continent if there were indeed other ones. He had no idea what he'd do for money, but he supposed he'd figure that out when he got to the other side. SquallNaru
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Mercenary For Hire**  
Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: I do not own Naruto or Final Fantasy._

_Love and adoration to __Arcander__ who influenced this story with her own Naruto/FinalFantasy8 crossover. Please go read it. _

Chapter One

Naruto sighed and kicked at a stone on the path. He was bored, as usual. For the most part, he was just waiting for the day they asked him to leave the village for good. How many times had he tried to take the Chunin Exam now? He counted the times in his mind… twice a year since he was twelve, minus the two and a half years he was away with Jiraiya, so eleven times now. Even Sasuke, a deserter to the village, had managed to come back into the good graces of the village and get himself ANBU title.

"I just don't get it," Naruto mumbled to himself. "I'm strong. I keep winning. What am I missing?" Naruto found himself approaching his usual perch atop the stone head of the Fourth Hokage.

The past few days he'd been wandering a lot more than normal, very distracted by recent happenings in his life. Iruka, once a teacher and now father-figure and great friend to Naruto, had left his post at the Genin academy to return to active duty. He was taking missions on a two-man team with Kakashi, another close friend and teacher in Naruto's past.

All of Naruto's friends were changing too, and Naruto felt like he was stuck in limbo… losing any desire to be where he was and yet cementing the only thing he knew how to do every day: fight.

Hinata, a nice girl who used to crush on Naruto, had settled down with Kiba and they had a rather bouncy little boy with purple eyes and Kiba's rat-nest for hair. The boy was two now, and liked to bite people's ankles. Hinata's little sister Hanabi had been handed leadership of the clan after Hinata was out of the way.

Orochimaru had destroyed Sunagakure, the land in the sun, and the surviving people came to live in Konoha. There weren't many to take in—the village was small to begin with, so all that remained was about a hundred people. Among those who came were Gaara and his sister Temari. Their brother Kankuro was unfortunately killed. Temari got Shikamaru off his rear and they were married. She was pregnant with their first child now.

Sakura and Sasuke were dating, but she was always busy at the hospital and he was always off on missions the two seemed to rarely see each other. Sakura did move in with Sasuke so they had more time together, but that just meant they spent all their free time with each other and none with their other friends. Naruto had to practically cut off his hand to get a few minutes with Sakura the past few years.

Ino and Chouji got married and she was plump with their third child already. Lee found happiness with a cute, young gardener and often traveled to see her at her home two hours from the village in his off time. As far as friends went, the only one Naruto saw lately was Neji as he requested new teammates to work with for the Chunin exam.

He still didn't understand how it had happened. _Neji_ was made into the sixth Hokage. Granted, it wasn't like Tsunade had _planned_ on an untimely death. Naruto found her slumped on her desk one morning, a bottle of sake in her hand, and thought she was sleeping but she was simply dead. It had been a hard blow to handle, especially since Jiraiya had passed away just three months earlier.

Naruto wondered where Gaara was at that time. The people who came from Sunagakure weren't allowed to go on high ranking missions, despite that Gaara had been Kazekage, and Gaara had been very angry and left the village while others simply settled in and made the best of their lives.

At least Orochimaru and Akatsuki had been dealt with. Orochimaru died and his organization fell apart after Sasuke killed Kabuto. As for Akatsuki, Naruto and his friends managed to overpower them. To that day, Sasuke hated Naruto for defeating Itachi after Sasuke had just been defeated by Itachi.

And after all the high ranked missions Naruto was constantly sent out on despite just being Genin, Naruto was still not allowed to pass the Chunin Exam, but he couldn't understand why. Neji had been Hokage for a year; Naruto had taken the Chunin Exam twice since then. Why was he still not given the pay grade he deserved?

_**Why are you still here?**_ The voice in his head was familiar; Kyuubi talked to him more and more these days, and as Kyuubi was the only constant who remained in Naruto's life, it made Naruto feel a lot warmer toward the fox.

"Still where?" Naruto asked.

_**Still here… in this place…**_ Kyuubi replied. _**They don't deserve us, or our strength, and even your 'friends' have abandoned you… If you can call them that…**_

"They haven't abandoned me," Naruto insisted. "They're just busy with their own lives."

_**There is a lot more to the world than this little patch of land…**_

"I know. I've been to every country on missions." Naruto said. "And I'm here because they need me." Naruto looked over the city below him. Sitting on the head of Yondaime, he was at the perfect vantage point to look over the whole city and watch everyone walk about like tiny ants.

_**What need do they have of you? They have hundreds who would replace you on the piddly missions you are sent to. They keep you only because they rather send you and the assignment will be finished without paying four or five of their people to do what you do.**_

Naruto shook his head. "I'm not that good, Kyuu."

_**You aren't, but together with me you are. Why not leave this place? Let them taste the dust at your feet, which is more than they deserve. Head to the ocean, and cross it. There, you would find the lands that I was brought from… new adventures await us, why stay here?**_

Naruto looked over the village, contemplating this before Kyuubi reminded him of his last Chunin Exam not more than three days ago. Once again, his two teammates were chosen to advance—he was not.

"I keep being held back… why?"

_**You know why… you just won't admit it…**_

Naruto sighed. "You'll always be here for me, right, Kyuu?" Naruto asked him.

_**Unfortunately,**_ the fox agreed.

Naruto settled himself on the ground, lying on his back ready for a nap. He hadn't done too much that morning; he went to training area nine to practice a bit but that idea had quickly lost its luster after his last teammates showed up to train, claiming Chunin rights to the place. He thought for a few moments as he stood there and seethed that he may as well just kick their asses—an idea that Kyuubi had backed up completely—and teach them who had real rights, but in the end he was a good little boy and left the fifteen-year-olds to their much-needed training.

That was how he ended up on top of the monument. "I could'a taken them brats on, no problem." Naruto assured himself.

_**Those pathetic whelps don't realize you carried them through the Chunin Exam. It was simply a lucky stroke they were able to showcase their abilities before you got to them…**_

Naruto knew Kyuubi was right. He was at the point where he was always the winner of the Chunin Exam… but he never got the prize. He understood why he wasn't made fifth Hokage; because there was someone better than him. Someone stronger. Tsunade had been that stronger person. Naruto swore Neji wasn't stronger than he was…

_**I bet the mortal would be too afraid to fight you again… you beat him once, and you've only gotten stronger…**_ Kyuubi whispered devilishly.

"I did beat him, didn't I?" Naruto asked, recalling their fight in the Chunin Exam that first time. Before Sasuke went AWOL. Naruto told Neji something along the lines that he would never give up. Fate didn't decide Naruto's future, and there was no such thing as a predetermined path to follow. Defeat wasn't inevitable. No one would ever tell Naruto to lay down and accept defeat…

_**They suppress you… us… We are hindered by these weaklings… There is so much we could do… so much we could see… Together, us… forget these weaklings… They're like the chain that keeps you here… The chain that keeps you from reaching your true potential… Cut the chain, Naruto. You deserve better than what they offer, you know you do…**_

"I… deserve better…?" Naruto repeated, feeling his heart twinge.

_**Yes, you do… we do… The world is big, full of magic and life. Your last sensei would teach you nothing… but imagine a new world… filled with new techniques… new powers… new wonders to explore… Just us… **_

"Just… us…" Naruto felt like he'd taken over the role of the copy-cat nin, in an entirely different manner.

_**Just… us…**_ Kyuubi said. _**Because you are worth more than they give you…**_

Naruto rolled over onto his side, his stomach grumbling but feeling too lonely to bother with eating. He closed his eyes, whispering, "I'm worth more…" as he fell to sleep.

He woke well after dinner time; it wasn't surprising to him. Lately, he tried to train in the mornings, got kicked out of the training grounds around eight AM, wandered the village until he made it up to Hokage Monument around noon, talked to Kyuubi for an hour or two, and then fell asleep until around seven or eight PM. After that, he would go to Theo's Bar and eat a late meal.

The past few days, he'd gotten into several street fights between the hours of ten PM and two AM. He came out without a single scratch, but kept getting called to Neji's office to be reprimanded for fighting. Neji was not fond of being pulled out of his bed in the middle of the night, but he didn't lecture Naruto. He merely gave Naruto work to do cleaning the library in Hokage tower. Naruto suspected Neji knew he didn't clean, but rather spent his time there reading forbidden scrolls.

Naruto was the same way six months ago when he had failed the Chunin Exam for the tenth time. He'd get into street brawls, get assigned cleaning duty, and just read the scrolls. He used some of those techniques he'd garnered from the scrolls in his last exam…

_**Dinner time yet?**_ Kyuubi asked him. Naruto was starving.

Nodding, Naruto got to his feet and trudged down the mountain for his usual late dinner. Theo's Bar was packed, but one stool at the bar was open. It was always open. Naruto ordered his usual bowl of revolting glop and a glass of milk. As he ate, Kyuubi snorted in disdain.

_**Why do you eat this? I never thought there would be something worse than Ramen, until this…**_ Kyuubi said.

"Ichiraku's closed this late, now that Ayame's pregnant…" Naruto said.

_**Pathetic mortals… I bet you couldn't find even one of them to spend time with anymore…**_ Kyuubi challenged.

Naruto shook his head. "Don't be that way, Kyuu…" he muttered, and tried to ignore the way the people around him began shying away from him. "They're just busy…"

_**They're always busy… too busy for you. As if you are unimportant. How long has it been since any of them actually spent time with you?**_

"Kiba and Hinata did two months ago…"

_**A whole five minutes as they made small talk before leaving you to babysit their whelp. Feel the love, Naruto, because they just have so much of it for you.**_

Naruto gagged down the remains of the glop Theo served him—noting for the first time that it didn't look like what everyone else was served—and quickly downed the milk to wash the bad taste of the food away. Getting to his feet, he left his usual money on the counter and made his way out of the bar.

_**Then prove it to me,**_ Kyuubi ordered. _**Prove you can find one of them who isn't too busy for you. One who cares. We'll talk more then…**_

Naruto sighed. Stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jacket he found himself making his way to Kiba's house, the closest of his friends. Knocking on the door, he was met with a rather disheveled dog lover. Kiba was dressed in only his undergarments.

"What do you want, Naruto?" Kiba asked irritably.

Naruto shrugged and ran a hand through his rather messy hair, wincing as it got caught in several knots. "Just thought you might want to hang out… Training ground fifteen is lit up at night, so maybe we could spar or," Kiba glared hard at Naruto, so the blond fell silent.

"Go to bed, Naruto. Me and Hinata are busy!" He slammed the door shut, and seconds later a loud crying erupted from the building, followed by Kiba cursing Naruto's name very loudly.

Naruto stared at the door, feeling perplexed. What had he done wrong?

Turning around, his feet carried him in another direction entirely. He soon found himself at Chouji's house. He went to knock, but a scream tore through the night, chilling him to the bone. Fearing the worst for his friends, he kicked the door in and ran toward the screaming.

He did not expect to find what he did then. Ino lay on her back, surrounded by medic-nin including Sakura. Chouji was frantically trying to keep his balance as Ino's super strength yanked him down, screaming at him. "I'm going to cut your balls off, Chouji, I swear I will!"

Chouji was sweating profusely, "It's okay, Ino, really, just breathe… and have a cookie…" he offered her a cookie.

"FUCK THE COOKIE! I don't want a fucking cookie! Chouji Akemichi, I'm going to fuck you up when this is over!" Ino screeched.

Sakura pointed out, "Ino, breathe now… That's what got you here, remember?"

"I'll kill you too, Sakura Haruno!"

Sakura said, "Well, just don't think you can fuck me too."

"I'll rip you all to hell!" the pregnant woman screamed.

Listening to this, Naruto paled. What kind of ritualistic ceremony had he walked in on… he knew he was out of touch with his friends, but this? Sakura turned her eyes to one of the medics and noticed Naruto, his hasty entrance unheard due to the high frequency sound waves in the room capable of blowing out a sound-nin's armor.

She yelled, "Naruto, what are you doing here? Get out! You shouldn't even be here! Go away!"

Naruto felt as if he'd been slapped with an anvil. "S-Sakura…" he whispered, his voice failing him as Ino set pained eyes on him.

"This is all your fault, Naruto! I hate you for this! If you hadn't ditched us four years ago, we wouldn't be here!" Naruto darted out, feeling more miserable and lonely than before.

He tried to think of an explanation of why his friends hated him. He recalled four years ago, the start of Ino and Chouji's relationship, began when the three of them were on a mission together and Naruto missed dinner. The two had eaten by the time the blond finished his reconnaissance and made it back to the restaurant to find the two had retired to the shared room. Naruto walked in on the two, sleeping in the nude, and then left and said nothing about it. Nine months later they had their first child.

Feeling very hurt by the words of all his friends, Naruto began his usual nightly wanderings. He wasn't sure what time it was when he saw a group of thugs roughing up a woman in her mid-forties. Why she was out at that time of night, Naruto didn't care to think about. Instead, he found his blood boiling right away and he was singing for a battle.

He yelled out to the thugs, catching their attention and Kyuubi's chakra bled into his hands along with his own, forming two perfectly round, vibrantly purple Rasengan. The fight ended all too soon; the woman had gotten away and alerted ANBU patrolling the city. Naruto recognized the leader right away from the duck ANBU mask.

Standing in the center of a mess of thugs, Naruto looked around him before looking back at Sasuke. "Oops." He said, feeling no remorse inside him for the deed he'd just done. Five full-grown men would need to pay a visit to the hospital because of him, and all he had to show for it was their blood on his knuckles and spattered on his jacket.

"Come with me, Uzumaki," Sasuke sneered, his voice muffled by the wooden mask. "The rest of you, get these men to the hospital and debrief them; I want to know what happened immediately."

"I could just tell you," Naruto offered, his voice a dead monotone.

"Shut your mouth and get moving, or I'll subdue you by force." Sasuke threatened.

Naruto snorted and began walking toward the alley exit, not about to take short cuts over buildings to get to Hokage tower. "That'll be the day," he muttered. Sasuke followed him mutely.

At Hokage tower, Naruto had to wait for the sixth Hokage to be summoned. Naruto sighed and stared longingly at the chair he'd always wanted to be responsible for, among other things.

_**Not something they'll ever let you have, and you know it…**_ Kyuubi said. _**Haven't I told you? It's just us… These people don't appreciate us, they never have and they never will…**_

Naruto walked around the desk and sat heavily down in the large chair. Sasuke clenched his fists, but simply stood by the door waiting the presence of the Hokage.

"You're right…" Naruto whispered, feeling as if the world was beginning to crash around him. "What, then? Where can I go?"

_**There is so much of the world you haven't seen… Cross the ocean, and you can start wherever you want. Learn new things, meet new people, eat new things… **_

"Okay…" Naruto agreed softly, feeling as if the decision had drained him completely.

Once Neji came, he dismissed Sasuke. As soon as they were alone, the tired man opened his mouth to speak, but Naruto beat him to the punch. "I want to go away," Naruto said suddenly.

Neji's expression contorted in confusion, but he nodded slowly anyway. "Alright, Uzumaki… I'll get you a mission first thing in the morning…"

Naruto shook his head. "No, not a mission… I just want to go."

Neji moved forward, eyebrows furrowing further still. "You know you can't. If you leave, they'll call you a missing nin and what with Kyuubi in you, you'll be put in the Black Book."

"You better make it so I can," Naruto said, meeting Neji's eyes with his own burning blue orbs. He was feeling more and more vindicated with each passing second. Kyuubi was right; there was nothing left for him in Konoha.

Trying a new angle, Neji asked, "Why is it you want to leave, Naruto?"

"I'm not wanted here," Naruto said truthfully. Neji opened his mouth to protest, but Naruto held up his hand to stop the man. "Don't bother, Neji. I haven't slept in a bed for two years… I haven't even had an apartment for two years, because my rent kept going up and up, and my pay still sucked, and no one would rent to me because I'm Kyuubi's jinchuuriki after that. I keep going for Chunin, but we both know I'm never gonna pass it. Just get me out of here, before I explode."

Neji was quiet for a long moment before he grasped a piece of paper and a pen and began writing quickly on it. "Here, Naruto." He said, offering the paper. "Take this to Meechan's Hotel. It will get you a room… just give me a week to work out the arrangements, alright?"

Naruto scratched his face before taking the voucher. As he stood, he leveled a tired, but serious expression on Neji. "One week, and I'm leaving with or without your blessing… I can't take it anymore."

Neji confirmed, "One week. Until then, if you need something to do… clean up in the library."

"Thanks…" Naruto stuffed his hands in his pockets, figuring he may as well head over to the library and finish up the night with some reading. He felt Neji's eyes following him as he slouched out of the room.

The remainder of the night was spent in the library of Hokage tower. This time, however, he found the blank scrolls of parchment and started copying the information rather than studying it. It was Kyuubi's suggestion. The fox said it would give him something to do while he sailed across the ocean. Naruto didn't know where he was going to get the money for a ticket on a boat, but he supposed he and Kyuubi would figure something out when they got that far.

When the library bell tolled half-past five in the morning, he packed up the original scrolls and put them back in their proper places, and then stashed away the few copies he'd made inside his jacket, zipping it up to sneak the scrolls out of the building.

He went about his usual routine, going to training ground nine to practice until he was kicked out of the grounds by his ex-teammates from the last Chunin Exam. When he was kicked out, he picked up his orange and black jacket from where he'd set it aside with the scrolls, and then wandered around town for an hour before feeling like all the energy had been sucked right out of him. Considering he didn't have very much to begin with, he knew if he didn't go somewhere, he would pass out in the middle of the street.

Neji's voucher got Naruto a room at Meechan's Hotel, the best Hotel in Konoha. Naruto wondered if Neji was attempting to compensate for the fact that Naruto hadn't had an apartment in a long time, and figured it was probably the case.

The problem with the hotel ended up being the fact that Naruto felt too cramped inside the room. The bed turned out to be too soft, and the room was too hot and small. Naruto was exhausted, but too uncomfortable to sleep. At five PM, he gave up trying and left the hotel along with Neji's voucher behind.

He walked to Theo's Bar and found it was less crowded when he arrived, since it was earlier in the evening than usual. He got his usual dinner of indescribable goop and milk, then stopped by at the bank, arriving five minutes to six PM. He felt the glares he received for coming at all, especially so close to the time they locked up.

Walking up to the manager with his hands in his pants pockets, he murmured, "I'm here to pick up the lock box Jiraiya left me, and the one Tsunade left me."

"This way," the manager huffed and led Naruto to another room containing only a steel table and chair. He left Naruto in the room while he went off to collect the two boxes. The man soon brought in a cart with two heavy chests on top, one bigger than the other.

"Leave," Naruto said, pulling the cart to the table and setting one chest on the top of it. He withdrew two keys from his pocket, the last two keys to his name, both marked with tape to tell which key was from who. He tried one key in the lock, but it wouldn't turn so he tried the other and found the box he was opening was from Tsunade. It was the smaller of two, and didn't contain much.

Inside was a smaller wooden chest with seals carved into it, and three small holes in the top. Naruto took it out and examined it, surprised to note the box was one that would only unseal with the use of a chakra technique, most likely the one Tsunade had taught to Naruto.

Accompanying the box was a scroll and a letter. Naruto picked up the letter and sat down on the hard chair to read it, hardly caring that it was past six and the bankers probably wanted him gone so they could close but not really caring at that point. Opening the letter, he found Tsunade's writing.

She didn't have much to say. Most of the letter was devoted to the tricks of Tsunade's gambling trade—how to fail, basically. At the end of the letter, she talked about the scroll and the wooden box.

"This scroll belonged to your father," the letter said, "and I am sure he would want you to have it. As for the box, I only ask that you do not open it until the time is right. You will know when that time is."

Naruto investigated the scroll, finding it to be a detailed technique scroll for learning the Rasengan. He was already capable of forming a Rasengan in each hand, without clones now, but the scroll had some scribbled notes at the end containing questions of fusing a Rasengan—the ball of pure, swirling chakra—with an element such as fire. The idea was interesting, but the pessimist that had been created in Naruto over the past few years told him it would never work so he closed the scroll up and put it by the box and letter.

For a moment, his eyes lingered on the wooden box and he thought, what if now was the time? His hand clutched the necklace Tsunade had given him long ago as he tried to think of what she might tell him. In the end, he found he wasn't certain he wanted to know what was in the box anyway, so he left it alone.

Turning to the box from Jiraiya, he took the key from the table and opened it to find Jiraiya's legacy was left to him after the old man died. For years, he'd been able to summon Gamabunta and his family of toads; Jiraiya had left the toad's scroll to him and a large folder filled with papers.

Already teary-eyed at the old man's wonderful gesture, Naruto tied the giant scroll on his back and then opened the folder. The papers listed Naruto as the recipient of everything Jiraiya owned. Jiraiya had left Naruto a furnished house, the scroll, money, rights to all Jiraiya's books, and the right to continue collecting on the royalties from Jiraiya's books for ten years after Jiraiya's death.

Naruto choked on a sob. He'd never come to collect the contents of these boxes after Jiraiya and Tsunade died because he didn't want to admit they were dead. Now, he'd only come to collect the contents so that he wasn't leaving what they left to him behind when he went away.

Grabbing the papers, the scroll, the letter from Tsunade, and the wooden box he left the room hardly caring how much of a mess he was. He glanced at the clock on the wall. It was already seven PM. The bank workers looked unhappy.

Walking over to the manager, he said quietly, "I want to take all the money Jiraiya left me. I need it now, 'cause I'm leaving town in a week, and I won't be back."

The manager sniffed haughtily, his eyes burning with irritation. "We're closed. You'll have to come back on the next business day."

Naruto said nothing and left with his things. He knew he needed something to carry all his things in, so he went to buy a travel pack and loaded all his things in it. The pack was overpriced and took a big chunk of what little money he had. He never had enough money to open a bank account.

After stashing his things in his pack, including the newly copied scrolls, he headed to see the house Jiraiya had left him. He had no intention on staying there long.

The house turned out to be very large, with a tall stone wall surrounding the property and a rusty, wrought iron gate that squealed terribly as it was pushed open. The house was larger than Hinata's father's home. Naruto felt strange as he walked to the front door and carefully entered.

Setting his stuff down by the front door, he set about investigating the place. It had all sorts of rooms and furniture, including a large indoor swimming pool and a dojo, on the first floor, over a dozen bedrooms on the second floor, and a wrap around porch on the first floor.

He rubbed his eyes, wanting to cry but not allowing himself the leisure of doing so. Instead, he choked back his tears and at ten PM he set the toad scroll by his pack and left the property. He wondered if his life would be so bad if he stayed, now that he had a home…

Kyuubi reminded him, _**No matter if you stay or go, these people will still despise us… **_

Naruto agreed to the truth of that and continued his nightly wanderings. In short order, he found a drunk who wanted to play 'stick the kunai in Kyuubi', so after beating up the idiot, he was taken to Neji's office. Neji was surprised to see him so early, as it was only nine PM, but sent Naruto off to the library to 'clean' again.

Naruto went and once again found more empty scrolls to use for copying, and set himself to work. When his pen ran out, he went to Neji's office—it was midnight, so the other man was gone by that time—and stole a few from the top drawer.

He finished up a scroll shortly after five AM and packed his jacket with the copies, cleaned up what he was doing, and left the tower. He went to Jiraiya's house to set the scrolls down in his travel sack, then headed to the training grounds for some more exhausting work.

Soon as he was kicked out of the grounds, he went back to the bank only to find they were closed for the day. He skipped out on wandering town for the few hours and simply trekked to the top of the mountain, making himself comfortable on the ground and sleeping away the rest of the morning, straight through until late evening. By nine he was at Theo's for food, and by ten he had been taken to Hokage for fighting.

The third day of the week, he went back to the bank after being kicked out of the training grounds again and like the day before he found it was closed. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He didn't even really know what day it was anymore… just that he was somewhere in the month of September; the Chunin Exam started in July—earlier than the usual Fall exam—which was all he knew how to keep track of time. Otherwise he was pretty much lost as far as time went. He wondered if there were any holidays in September.

Continuing about his usual routine, he wandered the city until he found himself atop the monument. Settling down, he watched the city like it were an ant hill.

_**We could reach out and wipe their 'ant hill' into dust.**_ Kyuubi told him.

"…I know…" Naruto said slowly.

_**With the way they treat us… we should…**_ Kyuubi whispered conspiratorially in his mind.

"…Maybe…" Naruto found himself surprised to say.

_**They make you unhappy…**_

"…A little…" Naruto agreed.

_**We should go away from here. Happiness is out there, waiting for you.**_

"…We will…" Naruto yawned and curled up on Yondaime Hokage's stone head.

_**You've got something to do on the ship. What are we waiting for?**_

"…Day seven." Naruto said before falling asleep.

His routine remained the same after that; he woke up, went to dinner, got in a fight, got sent to the library, copied scrolls, went to train, got kicked off the grounds, found out the bank was closed, then wandered until it was time to sleep and started it all over again.

The sixth day of the week was when Naruto's patience ran dry. His entire body was quivering with anticipation and nervousness. His hands were clammy and after two AM, his hands started to shake so bad he couldn't copy scrolls any more. He left the library early and went to his usual training ground, trying to work off pent up steam in the dark. The sun rose, and then the little Chunins came to Naruto's field and wanted to kick him off.

Naruto snapped. They said they wanted to train, so Naruto gave them the workout for their lives. By the time ANBU was notified, the two kids were three colors: red, blue, and black. By the time help actually arrived, Naruto had the two obeying every order he gave them.

ANBU Bear asked, "Is there a problem here?"

Naruto shook his head, his face set seriously, "No. They just wanted to train, so I've been giving them tips. Right guys?" Naruto asked them.

Both of them cried out, terrified of the consequences, "Yes, Sir!"

"We were informed you were acting out again, Uzumaki. You're sure nothing is amiss?" ANBU Cat inquired. ANBU Cat had taken Naruto to see the Hokage for fighting not even twelve hours earlier.

"Absolutely positive," Naruto nodded solemnly. "If they think training with me is hard, I'd like to see them train with Maito, Gai…" The three ANBU actually chuckled.

ANBU Owl said, "I heard you trained with him for quite a long time."

Naruto shrugged and the conversation ended there. The two young Chunins were given pats on the back, and then they paled as Naruto was instructed to keep up the good work. Naruto enjoyed himself as he 'gave tips' to the two for several hours.

At four PM he went to the bank. It was still closed. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the bank and scribbled out a note on an exploding tag, pasting it to the front door. He knew he would get no sleep that night, so he didn't bother going up the mountain. He went to an early supper, then prowled the streets looking for a fight with someone. When he couldn't find anyone drunk or stupid enough to fight him, he found Sasuke.

"Hey, duck ass," Naruto jeered, feeling a dire need to rid himself of excess energy. Sasuke turned to look at him, his ANBU Duck mask in place and his two teammates nowhere to be seen. They were likely split up to patrol.

Sasuke asked coldly, "What do you want, dead last?"

Naruto walked up to Sasuke and gave him no warning before slugging the bastard. Sasuke's mask shattered, and the Uchiha was left with a bleeding cut on his cheek from a splinter of the mask. Sasuke put his leg back to brace himself from falling, but recovered quickly and glared at Naruto.

"What do you think you're doing, Uzumaki?" Sasuke growled, rubbing his cheek with his fingertips and wiping off blood. "Do you really think you can get away with hitting me?"

"Gonna run and tattle on me?" Naruto asked, his voice hard. "Or you gonna fight me like a fucking man?"

As Naruto fought Sasuke, it was just the kind of workout he needed. The only problem was over a dozen ANBU showed up and separated them.

The two of them were taken to the Hokage. Neji leaned against the front of his desk, glaring coldly at Sasuke.

"Let me remind you what it means to be ANBU, Uchiha. You are supposed to represent the best aspect of our Shinobi. You are supposed to portray a calm exterior at all times, remain civil and fair to both civilians and your fellow Shinobi regardless of their rank, and be disciplined and punctual at all times. In regards to your personal feelings, when you are ANBU, they don't exist." Sasuke stood there, seething as he was lectured.

Neji continued, "You were allowed to rejoin the ranks after your desertion, which was obviously an error in judgment on the part of the Godaime as you appear to feel you are better than the law and think it necessary to pick fights with those around you. For your actions on this day, you will hereby be stripped of ANBU rank and suspended from missions without pay until the damages to the city have been repaired."

Sasuke bowed his head slightly in acknowledgement, his teeth gritting together. "Understood, Hokage-sama." He forced out.

"I wasn't finished," Neji said and Sasuke's eyes burned with anger. "You will have the opportunity to learn just what it means to the city when damages are done by assisting with the rebuilding process in both physical and monetary value. You will be fined for the cost of the damages, and report to the builders daily. When you are not with the builders, you will be confined to your house under continuous surveillance. Have I made myself abundantly clear?"

Sasuke nodded, "Understood, Hokage-sama."

Neji said, "You are dismissed, Uchiha. ANBU Fox, please see that he arrives home." The ANBU followed Sasuke out, and Neji turned to Naruto. "I have your paperwork in order. Are you sure this is what you want?" Neji asked.

Naruto nodded slowly. "I have to do this, you understand? I have to…"

Neji sighed, but he nodded. "There are a few things we have to clarify and clear up before you can go, though. First, you reportedly were seen beating on your recent Chunin exam team members."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "ANBU Cat, ANBU Owl, and ANBU Bear cleared that up. They wanted me to train them, so I did."

Neji then asked, "And as far as this threatening note you left for the bank?"

"They're always closed when I come by. I'm getting sick of it. I'm not waiting for this bank holiday to end before leaving, even if I have to blow the place up to get my inheritance monies." Naruto said firmly. "I gave them sufficient warning; they can be open tomorrow."

"You know I have to punish you for the indiscretions…" Naruto nodded at Neji's warning. "Then, proceed to the library and serve out your punishment for fighting Uchiha, Sasuke, and for threatening the bank. Tomorrow morning at eight AM, proceed to the bank. I will make sure the bank is open."

Naruto said nothing more and waited no more for dismissal before leaving. Copying scrolls was impossible at that point. He shook so bad from anticipation toward leaving he ended up simply pacing for the duration of his time in the library and at six AM he left and went to pace for two hours in front of the bank.

At eight AM, a terrified bank manager showed up. Naruto glared at him impatiently. It didn't take long to close out the accounts of money left to him. Naruto had every bit of it made into small, easy to spend currency, and the bank put the money in a bag.

Finally he was able to go shopping. He took his money to purchase things in various shops. Travel supplies and food from Chouji's family's store. He went to Ten-Ten's family blacksmith for new weapons. His old ones had lasted a long time, but it was time for some new gear…

At last, the next morning he had his travel papers and with a pack on his back, he looked out of the gates of Konoha. This was to be, if he could help it, the last time he ever traveled through those doors.

He took a step, toward the freedom that Kyuubi whispered he could have if he left.

"Naruto! Naruto, don't do it!"

Naruto felt his face drain of emotion. He turned to look at Sakura. Bitterly, Kyuubi asked, _**Where was she all this time? To think she has the right…**_

Sakura ran up to him and grasped his wrist, "Naruto, please, don't go!"

Naruto yanked his arm away from her. "Don't go?" he asked. "DON'T GO?!" he snarled, his eyes flashing with anger at her audacity. He wasn't even sure where Kyuubi's outrage ended and his own began. "I'm already fucking _gone_. Didn't you see me leave? Or are you always too busy with Sasuke? It's too late to start caring!" He turned and started running away from her.

It was too late to turn back. How dare she start caring now…?

It took days to reach the sea, and passage to the lands beyond it wasn't cheap. Once he'd paid his fare and bought more food, he found he had very little money left for when he got on the other side. Leaning on the boat rail, he realized that the expensive cost was why no one traveled off the continent if there were indeed other ones. He had no idea what he'd do for money, but he supposed he'd figure that out when he got to the other side.


	2. Chapter 2

**Title: Mercenary For Hire  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: I do not own Naruto or Final Fantasy._

_Love and adoration to __Arcander__ who influenced this story with her own Naruto/FinalFantasy8 crossover. Please go read it._

_Special thanks to Feathergriffin for her help with the fog scene. _

_Special thanks to Arcander, Feathergriffin and my friend Melly for helping me lift my fat ass over the giant stump of a writer's block in my path.  
_

Chapter 2

The dock was long and overloaded with ships and bulky men carrying heavy loads while sweat glistened in the daylight from their tanned, scarred chests. Every man was dressed in dull colors, tans, beiges, browns. Most of them had blackened teeth, or missing teeth—or in one man's case, _no_ teeth. On the other side of the dock stood merchant's stands, each calling out to passersby sales pitches about their goods.

In this place, no man stood out of the crowd except him with his bright orange and pitch black jacket. The metal plate on his forehead, the hitai-ate, labeled him as a shinobi of the leaf, and it seemed no one saw beyond _that_, here. It wasn't surprising that he might get respect this far from Konohagakure; the entire world didn't know him just by sight, and only the people of Konohagakure knew of him being Kyuubi's host.

It was due to this that he inadvertently found himself wondering what he might do if instead of going across the ocean, he just stayed _here_ in this bustling port town.

_**Don't you want to see the new world…? Don't you want to go somewhere and make a name for yourself that is rightfully yours? These people see you as a shinobi; they don't see you for a man.**_ Kyuubi whispered in his mind.

It was due to this that Naruto found himself once more retreating in his mind, refusing to open this port town to his senses and made his way through the crowd. He stopped one of the bulky men who had just set down his heavy load and asked, "Hey, do any of these boats go across the sea?"

The man gave him a funny look before noticing his hitai-ate and fear and respect coursed through his eyes. "Yes, My Lord," the man nodded. "Just down the dock be the trade ship, _Hyne's Blessing_, and she be trading with far continents."

"Are there many ships that trade with other lands?" Naruto asked out of curiosity. The man's fearful respect of him wasn't surprising anymore; after growing to be a decent five-foot-eight inches tall and being capable of mostly looking people right in the eye—or even down at them—strangers didn't mistake him for a boy to be messed with… especially when he wasn't smiling and hyper and making stupid vows. Things had changed drastically since his first mission being sent out to Mist Country.

"Yes, My Lord, but ain't seen none much lately. Rumor is that trade with our lands is dangerous, and few make the journey here due to the sea claiming many vessels."

Naruto nodded. "Thank you." He told the man. He was grateful to the man for the information so he offered him some coins which were declined respectfully. Making his way to find the ship, he located it right at the end of the pier. It was being loaded up with big crates, and Naruto followed a man aboard.

He managed to locate the ship captain, who told him he'd give him safe passage for a fee. The fare for the trip cost a hefty sum, and Naruto looked mournfully at his nearly empty purse. "Gama-chan's empty…" he whispered. As he leaned on the rail, he knew he would need to find a way to get more money when he got to the other side of the world.

During the voyage, he was treated very differently than anything he'd encountered in a very long time. Suddenly it was like he was twelve again, and had just graduated at the academy. The ship Captain reminded Naruto of the old man from Mist Country, on his first supposedly 'D rank' mission; rude, and drunk. These people weren't from what they called the _disappearing island_, which Naruto came to learn was the lands he grew up in. They claimed to come from Gulron, a decent sized port town in Galbadia which was where they were headed back to.

Hearing his native land called a "disappearing" island, Naruto asked one of the sailors more about it.

"Oh, aye," said the sailor, "yer island hides in a shroud of fog, boy. Its location cannae be fixed on a map, because it'll never be found in the same place twice."

Naruto smiled, finding he liked what he was hearing. "So you mean if I ever wanted to go back, I might not be able to?" The captain had warned him before he bought his fare, but hadn't exactly explained _why_ he might not be able to go back.

"Aye. Ye want t' find somethin', ye gotta know _how_. Them's that know how to find the island is a disappearin' kind o' man. It takes days t' get through th' fog a'fore we'll come out, then we make toward Galbadia. Th' problem's gettin' through the fog safe. There be all manner o' creatures waitin' for us there. Hyne bless us, we don't run into the _Kraken_." The man said, scraping a match across his scraggly face and using it to light an oil lamp to throw the falling night's darkness at bay.

"The Kraken?" Naruto asked. "What's that?"

"The most fearsome of sea creatures," the man shuddered. "It has hundreds of tentacles to wrap around a ship and a mouth filled with teeth sharper than steel and each one bigger'n a dozen men. It's eyes are black as ink. Never a man who saw the Kraken did live t' tell the tale."

Naruto felt his lip curl up in amusement at that. "Then how do you know what it looks like?"

"What?" the man asked, surprised.

"If no one's ever lived who saw it, how is it anyone knows what it looks like?" Naruto would have thought that question would be obvious, but apparently the man didn't question it.

"Don't question the forefathers, boy." The man finally said, annoyed as he took his shoes and socks off, climbing into his hammock. "Ye know what's good for ye, ye'll not ask stupid questions. Get some rest."

Naruto lay down on the hammock the captain had ordered set up for him, but soon found sleep hard to grasp in the confined space below deck. Disliking the claustrophobic feeling he had in there as he was trying to settle, he rolled out of the net and went up onto the deck. It didn't take him long to find himself at the front of the ship with his hands against the rail, feeling the wind blowing through his hair and the freedom of the open darkness hugging his skin like cool silk sheets.

_**Those fools don't even realize what they have lost in you…**_

"Yeah…" Naruto whispered, the word becoming lost on the winds. His hand reached up and traced the engraved symbol on his hitai-ate. "In a year, I might not be able to go back."

_**A pity, I'm sure…**_ Kyuubi hissed venomously.

It was some time later when Naruto heard footsteps coming up behind him on the deck. One step was a heavy clunking noise like that of a leather boot, and the other was a higher pitched tapping noise like wood on wood.

"Cannae sleep, boy?" It was the captain; he approached without any sudden movements, as if he worried that such actions could be dangerous to his health. Considering what Naruto was—a highly trained, experienced Shinobi—the precaution didn't go unnoted.

Naruto merely shrugged. "I'm used to being awake at night," he admitted.

"Yeh don't mind me askin', but what are yeh runnin' from?"

The question confused Naruto and he expressed that confusion openly. "What?"

"Don't see yer kind much travelin' off continent. Only when yer runnin' from somethin'."

Naruto stared out into the fog, feeling a smile ghosting over his face as Kyuubi spoke in his mind. _**Running? Us? What have we to fear in this world? What would we run from?**_

He couldn't agree more with Kyuubi, so he told the captain honestly, "It's not what I run _from_, but what I run _to_."

"Aye… but I hope th' _thing_ ya run t' doesn't manage t' eat off yer arm when ya get there, boy… Best be wary; if ya don't like th' things what go bump in th' night, I'll advise ye t' stay below deck." The captain said, turning to go away.

Looking curiously after the captain, he replied, "I _am_ the thing that goes 'bump' in the night…"

"Not like this yer not," the captain disagreed and continued away.

Kyuubi cackled in Naruto's mind, amused from the irony in the statement. Naruto was a _jinchuriki_. What could go 'bump' that was worse than him? But then, the captain was unaware of precisely what he was allowing onto his ship with Naruto aboard so the ignorance could be excused. But one had to take into account Naruto's profession. He'd been raised to fight since even before he could _talk_. He was the dog of the council, raised to be under the council's thumb so they could control the power of the Kyuubi.

For a long time, they had him too… They just…made a mistake. They didn't notice their tool was becoming reclusive, rather than subservient. Naruto wondered if they noticed the way things were, maybe he would still be there serving them for the good of Konoha? Maybe if they had just kept him happy, things would have gone differently at this point in his life? He was just a few weeks from his twenty-first birthday. Would anyone notice he wasn't there?

Even if they did notice… would they really care? He supposed they wouldn't, since the last two years when they had the chance they all chose to move on with their lives and leave him back in the dust…

Dobe…

The bow of the ship was where the captain had left Naruto the night before, and that was where he once more found Naruto come daybreak; exhausted from days of travel, and unable to find solace in sleep on the first leg of his journey across the sea. He offered Naruto some food, but Naruto shook his head. He'd eat only what was in his pack until that was gone.

By the light of the gray dawn, he started reading one of the scrolls he'd copied from the Hokage tower library. By the time the sun had risen fully, he was practicing the moves from the scroll, careful not to damage the ship. The sailors were stopping to watch him by the time noon hit, but the captain hollered at them and got them back to work. He could still sense them watching him out of the corners of their eyes, but he put the feeling to the back of his mind.

_**Ugh… boats…**_

"Yeah, you sea-sick?" Naruto asked the fox, slightly humored before he cursed the mistake he made in the routine. Right jab, left jab, and then a back flip, following up with a sequence of hand symbols… Damn it, again, again, he told himself as he started again.

_**I am not made for boats…**_ Kyuubi complained.

"Hah, hah, hyah," Naruto called out with each motion, then as he did the hand symbols he began calling out their names. "Ox, fish, hare, boar, fish, ox, _shit._" He swore as he messed up again. In his mind, he had the routine memorized. In practice, his head and hands kept getting mixed up with what needed to come immediately and going straight to the end.

By the time his watch read four o'clock, he found himself worn to the point of being ready for a nap. He packed himself up and found a cozy little perch high up on one of the masts. Using a technique he'd picked up a long time ago, he used contact chakra to stick himself to the horizontal wood surface. He could see the vibrant purple of his chakra. With a sigh, he settled in for sleep.

The days on the ship passed relatively the same as any day in Konoha had. He woke late at night when the ship was the least active, and he stood at the bow of the ship watching as the ship cut through the darkness. At dawn, he read scrolls, and practiced them for the remainder of the day. Food and restroom breaks were interspersed through those activities. Mostly, he was left alone by the sailors.

On the eighth day of his trip, the dawn revealed a massive wall of fog that seemed to bloom out of nothing. It looked thick and impenetrable as stone, but they sailed right at it. Figuring this was what the sailors muttered of, the fog that shrouded his world in secrecy, he watched it come closer. The sailors found his sudden still behavior to be discomforting. He stood atop the rail at the bow, motionless, his blue eyes lacking emotion.

By the tenth day, they were entering the fog, and looking down into that murky black water, Naruto saw figures floating through the water. He peered down at them curiously. One of the sailors approached Naruto looking grim as he held a strange weapon. "We call them fiends 'Gerogero'. They kin look like any'un yeh kin think of."

"Fiends? They look more like zombies than animals." Naruto was disgusted as some of them hit the side of the boat and got pushed away.

"Oh, aye, they's worse than animals." The sailor said. "Watch."

Naruto watched them and soon the things in the water seemed to be waking up. They latched onto the boat and started climbing up the sides slowly, almost like they were moving in slow motion. The sailors were all lining up at the sides of the boat, and they pointed their strange L-shaped weapons over the side. As soon as the Gerogeros started climbing up the sides, the sailors would shoot at the creatures and their weapons emitted a harsh popping noise. The Gerogero that was hit would sometimes stall for a minute then continue climbing, but sometimes it would fall back into the water.

Naruto was somewhat fascinated by this, but realized when one of the sailors got his arm ripped off by a Gerogero that this was probably incredibly dangerous for them to do and he'd best help them. The remainder of the voyage was filled with fighting. The disgusting creatures from the murky water wanted to kill them.

Naruto seemed to be almost in two places at one time, the speed he moved. One instant he was watching the sailors fight for their lives and their ship, the next he was by their side. He couldn't use any destructive jutsu-that would risk harming the ship, and while he could probably walk to another country without running out of chakra if the ship sank, he didn't care for the idea, or the fact all these people would die.

Kunai seemed to work, but Naruto didn't have an endless supply of them. That left his rather versatile jutsu, the Shadow Clone. Naruto jumped off the ship onto the water because he didn't want to overload the ship with the weight and summoned a few dozen around him, and they went to work. But for every zombie thing he stabbed, it seemed like three more replaced it. Finally, Naruto had had enough.

_**Let's finish this...**_ Kyuubi said, sounding rather bored.

"Let's..." Naruto agreed. Unfortunately, the commotion had garnered the attention of something far, far worse then the Gerogero. Giant tentacles shot out of the water on all sides of them, like mile wide walls.

"Th' Kraken!!" screamed the captain. "Brace for impact!" Naruto recalled the words sworn by the sailors… _no man who ever met the Kraken did survive…_ He would see to it these men survived this. And he would prove he was strong enough to defeat the Kraken himself… If he could defeat this legendary beast, he would know he was the strongest…

Two weeks passed and the small trade ship sailed into harbor at Gulron, the ship's hometown in the country of Galbadia. Naruto was only too grateful to get off the boat. The sailors all revered him, as if he were a god. He didn't want _that_. Kyuubi insisted that was the sort of treatment they should get. Naruto just wanted a little respect. He didn't want to be feared and hated, and he didn't want to be simultaneously feared and loved for his strengths. He wanted respect—it was a simple concept.

Could he not just get that?

Instead, he seemed to be looked at like _he_ was the Kraken.

He jumped onto the dock before the gang plank could be put down and ran off into the crowd. He didn't have much money; what little he did have was traded to the ship captain for the new world currency: Gil.

It was barely minutes after he took off from the ship and disappeared into the crowd at port that he found out he made a major miscalculation. This world talked funny… and he couldn't understand a word of it. But he supposed it would be better not to be understood—not to _understand_ the people… than to deal with the way things were in Konohagakure.

Eventually Naruto found himself scouting the small port town for a cheap food establishment. In Gulron, the people seemed to look at Naruto funny no matter who they were. It made him want to just eat as fast as he could and get out of there, but he still needed money and he had to find a map of the new world—if these people were smart enough to map it.

The next few days Naruto spent his time running about the port town trying to figure out what to do with his life, and what was the next step. He spent his money in a market square, getting various fruits and vegetables he'd never seen before, and some that he had. Within five days of searching for a map, he had yet to see one and before he knew it he'd run down to his last five Gil.

Then, it was _raining_ of course, and he didn't have a cave at the top of a mountain to go to for shelter. So Naruto scoured the small city for an inn. It was hard to figure out what was what since he didn't know how to read the signs. Finally he found one building with a sign over the door with a strange looking futon with legs over the top – at least, he was hoping it was meant to be a futon with legs and not something else.

He entered, drenched from head to toe and covered in dirt and grime from sleeping in an alleyway every night. He'd tried sleeping on the roof the first night but found it was too steep and his bag kept wanting to roll off. Not to mention his precious Toad Hermit scroll, which was thankfully loaded with fire-proof and water-proofing jutsus, or Naruto would be crying at that moment.

As Naruto stepped up to the counter with his measley five Gil in his hand, he found himself getting oddly disapproving stares, probably from his dirty appearance. He went up to the counter and set his money on it.

He said, "I'd like a room please." But with the expression on the clerk's face, Naruto figured he might as well have quacked or barked for as much as he was understood. He said it again, slower, pushing the coins at the clerk.

Finally the clerk understood his meaning and he laughed, squeaking out some foreign words that honestly made no sense to Naruto. He understood the _tone_ though. It was the same tone he got back in Konohagakure, when someone wanted to ridicule him. Naruto took the coins back feeling his cheeks burning in embarrassment as he walked back toward the door.

He didn't know why he was being rejected services. He hadn't done anything wrong, had he? He moved on toward another building with a similar sign and stepped inside. He set the coins on the counter. The clerk took a look at him, wrinkled up her nose in disgust, and pointed to the exit.

He hadn't done anything wrong… why was he getting this treatment?

"Things were supposed to be different here, Kyuubi." Naruto whispered dejectedly.

_**It is much different… No one is trying to poke you with swords or knives. Isn't that better?**_

Naruto supposed that would be a positive way to think of it so far. But still, he was stuck here, no idea why he was being rejected. He couldn't even understand people here.

He wandered around looking for another place to sleep, finding one sign with a bed and a chicken engraved in it. It seemed less well-kept than other places, but he entered it if only for the brief moment of being out of the rain. Still, he prepared himself for rejection and being laughed at.

At the counter was a young woman, probably younger than himself. She was dozing off sitting at the counter, but then it was pretty dark out so probably rather late. He'd lost track of time. His watch had stopped working after they got through the fog, but he kept it on since it was a gift from Kakashi to 'be on time' even though Naruto was generally on-time, and Kakashi was the one who was always late.

Naruto debated waking the clerk and just sitting down quietly until the clerk woke up and likely kicked him out. Not wanting to be rejected again, he sat down in an out of the way corner. At least inside it was warm and mostly dry. The roof leaked here and there, and there was a pot under each leak to catch the water.

After shivering for a few hours as his clothes began to dry, the young girl woke and started half sleep-walking toward the buckets which she took outside and dumped before coming back.

Then she noticed him and jumped in shock. She squeaked out something in her foreign tongue and looked quite startled. Figuring he better leave before he got kicked out, Naruto got to his feet, leaving the shadowy corner. She looked even more stunned for some reason so he shouldered his travel bag and grasped his Toad Hermit scroll, walking toward the door.

He was about to leave when her tiny hand grasped his arm. He looked back at her to find tears in her eyes, and her tone was pleading. Whatever words she said were lost on him, but the tone spoke well enough.

He held up his five coins and even though he didn't expect her to understand he said, "This is all I have." He said it slow anyway, hoping she'd understand his tone like he hoped he understood hers right.

She looked excited, took the coins, and dragged him through a broken door grabbing a candelabra on the way by. The room she showed him was old and dusty, and it had a sizeable hole in the floor over in the corner of the room. She took a candle and stuck it in one of the candle sticks.

She skittered out and came back with a towel and a pair of dry pajamas, blue like he used to wear, and thick for extra warmth. She smiled at him widely and he felt very happy to see that smile. It was a truly friendly smile, one of a person who was grateful for something he'd done. He hadn't seen a smile like that in a very long time and it made his heart feel warm even though he had no more monies. He needed to get some of this world's currency, but hopefully it wouldn't be raining the next day.

He changed into the pajamas, using the towel to dry himself off. He wasn't particularly clean and the clothes were ridiculously huge on him, but he wasn't complaining because they were warm and he was warming up. He unloaded his pack, setting everything out so it could dry. The bag he'd bought was supposed to be water proof, but it wasn't completely, so he had to unroll all of his scrolls and air them out. His food didn't seem affected after becoming damp; it wasn't like it was bread or rice. His extra set of clothes had to be hung up as well as his travel blanket, so he took one of his wire ropes and strung it across the room using two kunai and hung everything up. The box from Tsunade and his father's scroll were alright. The scroll had dozens of protections on it, and the box was just wood.

He dried off and laid out all of his weapons so they wouldn't become rusty in the damp kits and set the bags to dry as well. Finally when everything he'd brought with him was inspected for water damages and lain out, he was able to crawl onto the bed. He didn't expect he'd sleep there, especially with how phobic he'd felt inside Meechan's hotel in Konoha but surprisingly he was able to curl up under the blankets and fall into a deep sleep with a smile on his face. Even though the blankets, bed and pillow had a musty old smell to them and were rather lumpy, he was comfortable.

When he woke up, he quickly found a change in his environment to be rather distressing. Someone had been in his room and he hadn't noticed. He hadn't woken up. Kyuubi didn't even bother to wake him!

He got out of the bed. His clothes and travel blanket were all freshly clean and folded neatly on the end of his bed. He picked them up and smelled them. They even smelled nice. They smelled better than they had when he had the tailors make them.

"Wow…" he whispered.

He got himself dressed and was just pulling on his sandals when he heard a knock at the door. He went and opened it, finding the young clerk from the night before smiling at him with a tray of food in her hands. Two eggs, potato shredding, and bacon, all formed on a plate to look like a smiling face. There was a cup of something black, and a cup of something orange.

She chirped something at him, holding out the tray. He wasn't sure if this was extra, and he couldn't understand her to know if it was or not. He gulped and took the tray when she shoved it at him. Then she happily left him, and he nervously took the tray back into his temporary little room.

At first he thought he'd leave the tray there and not eat it in case he would have to pay for it, but it smelled so good and he was tired of raw vegetables and fruits. In the end, he ate it, feeling guilty about doing so.

He tried drinking the hot black drink, but it tasted like very bad tea, or maybe even tar so he spit that back out and tried the orange drink, finding it tasted a lot like orange and banana juice.

After he'd eaten, he knew he had to pay attention to whether it was still raining or not. He'd been blocking that out, not wanting to know if he had to go out there again into rain when he was feeling so comfortable. He started packing his things up, feeling disappointed because he could hear the rain pounding against the side of the building. He wrapped his clothes and blankets around all his scrolls, hoping to keep them somewhat dry.

He didn't want to stay out there tonight, but he had no Gil left. He pulled on his travel bag and tied on the hermit scroll. He packed up his nin-kits and attached them. Finally he was ready to go. He made the bed neat as he could and folded the pajamas and towel she'd let him use, putting them on the musty bed.

Finally he left the room. He made his way out to the lobby, and was accosted by the young girl. She clucked out something in a worried tone of voice. And he looked blankly at her. She tried to say something else again.

At last, Naruto said, "I – do – not – understand – you." He said it ridiculously slow, hoping she'd get the idea.

She looked dejected before brightening up. She chirped something positive. He had no idea what. He shook his head and said, "I don't know what you said. I'm a foreigner, and you might as well be barking for all I get what you're saying."

She looked confused and said something again.

"Foreigner." He said. "Does not comprehend." He wished he knew how to speak in her language. Wouldn't that just be too easy for him, though? To go to a new world and somehow magically understand everyone? Maybe there was a jutsu for it, but he'd conveniently not managed to copy that scroll.

She looked disappointed again. He wasn't sure what to try saying, so he walked toward the door. He watched out the door's window; it was grimy and the glass was cracked. He could feel the gusty breeze. He didn't want to go out there.

He heard crying. Looking back, he saw the young girl was trying not to cry, and failing miserably at it. With a sigh, he went back, and stood by her counter. He turned his pockets inside out, showing her how pathetically empty they were of monies. "I don't have any of your monies, but can I stay until the rain lets up? I'll work for it. I could help you."

He doubted she'd understand, and his doubts were warranted because she just gave him a watery look of confusion. He saw a broom nearby. He grabbed it and pointed to himself, then his empty, turned out pockets. He swept the floor a bit, looking at her, and then pointed to the door that led to the hall leading to the rooms. He swept again.

Her face crinkled in thought as she tried to figure out what he wanted to say to her. He kept going through the motions and finally she seemed to figure it out. She nodded, but she looked sad. He wished he knew why, but he was grateful for the chance to stay out of the rain and cold, when he had his precious scrolls to keep dry.

He worked hard, sweeping the floors, dusting the cobwebs off from every corner of the place. He dumped the buckets from the leaky roof half a dozen times, and managed to find some soap in a bathroom that failed to have water, but the water from the leaky roof was good enough to use for scrubbing the floors. He used the soap and water and started taking grime off every inch of the floors that he could.

After several hours of cleaning, the young woman came out with a hot bowl of stew and a glass of milk. She smiled at him, and offered it up. He took it gratefully, finding it incredibly tasty in comparison to all the food he'd lived on in Konohagakure.

The milk tasted a bit funny, but he supposed he shouldn't complain. She sat in front of him on the floor, hugging her knees and watching him with that smile on her face. It was the first time he really even looked at her. She was very pretty, but not in the same way the girls back home had been. There was a different type of beauty to her.

He really couldn't explain it. Her eyes were doe-like, wide and brown. Her hair was a bit dingy, but combed and pulled back. Her flesh and clothes were pale, but not very clean. He had figured this place would be rather less fortunate than the others he'd gone in, but since he hadn't paid it much mind, he was only now really coming to that conclusion.

Since both of them seemed to realize neither one spoke the other's language, they sat in silence as she watched him eat. He supposed she didn't get much in the way of customers, because it was getting later on in the evening and no one had stopped by. But then, he thought if people knew of her food they would be fighting to have a room there. It was the best food he'd ever tasted.

When he finished eating, she took his dishes away and he settled back to work on her floors.

The next day, it was still raining and when he asked – or rather, mimed helping her around the inn in exchange for a dry bed again, she agreed right away. He ate some of his fruit for breakfast and then she took him out through the rain into a stables. Instead of horses in the penned enclosures, he saw six giant chickens. She gave him a bucket and led him into one of the enclosures, petting the giant bird-demon-thing's beak. He was nervous.

Finally she settled a stool beside the bird and pushed back the feathers beneath it, revealing nipples. She showed him how to milk the bird, much like one would milk a cow. And then, she set him to work.

He couldn't believe what he was doing. He was milking a chicken-thing. This was probably the most bizarre thing he'd done in his entire life. And what did this creature have nipples for? Didn't beaked-animals typically vomit into their young's mouths? He knew he wouldn't want any beaks pecking off his nipples…

Then again, he wouldn't ever have children, so he wouldn't have to worry about feeding them either.

After he filled the bucket, he put a cap on it like she'd showed him and took it into the inn, locating her in her kitchen where she was washing up dishes. He set the pail of milk on her counter and she led him back out to the stables and took a pitch fork from a pile of straw and showed him how to clean the stables using a pitch fork and a wheel barrow, and showed him where to go dump the waste.

Milking the chicken… (he'd never get over how bizarre that was) and cleaning the chicken coop took him all day and when he got back inside, she had a bowl of hot water and wash clothes for him to wash up with as much as he could, and hot food again which was more than worth the weird morning experience.

The next morning he was disappointed to find it had stopped raining and he had to leave. He knew she couldn't understand him, but he thanked her anyway, and offered up several of his vegetables before leaving.

He found himself in the small city's market square and sat down on the edge of the fountain with a sigh. He set his pack at his feet and the Toad Hermit scroll propped between his legs on its end. He didn't really know what to do with himself now. He had no money, couldn't understand people for shit, and no clue where to go or how to get money in this crazy world.

Naruto grew bored sitting on the edge of the fountain, and after a few minutes, he lifted himself into a hand stand, then doing it one-handed as he tried to think of ideas of what to do next. His big problem was money and the language barrier. It would take him a long time to solve the latter issue, but the former would be as easy as finding work.

He could go back to that girl and see if she'd let him work again, but he'd feel bad taking money from someone as poverty stricken as he used to be. He remembered living in his old dump of a place, barely having enough to ever live by. And he would also feel bad taking food from her (although it was delicious food) when she clearly wasn't going to have much on her own. She had those chickens, and chicken milk, and he thought he saw a patch of a garden with vegetables… but her inn didn't seem to get much in the way of customers otherwise. She probably didn't have a very easy time getting by day to day, so he needed to find a place to make real money, and maybe he could use that money to rent a room at her inn and thereby help her out too.

He contorted his body, stretching his legs out sideways while still doing a one handed hand-stand on the fountain rim. His free hand touched his toes, pulling his leg further down as he wondered what he was good at besides fighting. When he was younger he used to do odd jobs here and there to make enough to pay his rent… going to the genin academy didn't exactly pay the bills or buy his milk.

But he didn't think he could get away with going house to house and asking people if he could trim their lawns or wash their windows around here, especially when they wouldn't understand him and he couldn't picture himself figuring out how to _mime_ such a task, and then mime them paying him for it.

Since he couldn't speak the language, he wouldn't be able to find work at a shop. But maybe someone needed a bodyguard or something… although how would he manage to get a job as a bodyguard if he couldn't speak the language.

The answer came as a surprise to Naruto. It wasn't precisely the answer to all of his problems, but it was an answer… One moment, he was stretching on the fountain, and the next a little girl, pretty and well-dressed (and notably clean) came over and set a few coins on his travel pack.

He remembered being young like her. He'd seen some performers on a street and stood there marveling at the amazing things they'd done. Juggling and walking on hot coals, swallowing swords and twisting their bodies in impossible manners… They made money on street corners and in market squares.

Could this be his calling? Could he make money this way? Judging from the two tiny coins on his pack, he thought he just might be able to.

_**What humiliating act are you planning to partake in now?**_ Kyuubi demanded of him.

Ignoring the fox and smiling at the little girl from his upside down position, he twisted and stretched before bringing his feet back down to the ground and standing before her. He took out three scrolls from his pack and started juggling them. The little girl beamed at him; he was amazed at how such a simple act made a little girl smile so he stopped juggling long enough to grasp a fourth scroll. Juggling was easy enough, it just required hand-eye coordination, which he had plenty of.

The little girl clapped until her superior looking mother grabbed her by the arm and shot a dirty look at Naruto before pulling her child away.

_**Because that worked so well for you.**_

Naruto felt irritated at the Kyuubi's remark. "I don't hear you coming up with ways to get us money," he grumbled.

_**You're stronger than all of these weaklings. Take what you want. What need do we have of money?**_ Kyuubi asked.

"…I don't care how desperate I get… I can't…"

_**Why not? They certainly don't care about you any, why should you care about them?**_

"…I just can't." Naruto always felt pride in what he earned, and guilty over what he stole, and there had been times in his life when he'd been forced to steal to survive.

So, Naruto began juggling scrolls. He didn't make a whole lot of money. He made twelve Gil by juggling scrolls and after dark, he packed the scrolls away, collected his monies, and trudged toward that back alley inn.

The young woman was happy to see him, and when he showed her a handful of coins, she seemed even happier still. He set the coins on the counter and tried to mime asking for food as well as the room. She brought him hot water to wash up, two new candles, clean pajamas, and some of her delicious food.

_**So you get some money, and right away you blow it all on a place to stay when it isn't even raining…**_ Naruto imagined the fox shaking its head.

Naruto more or less wanted to do it because he wanted to help the nice young woman out. He could always earn more money in time, but she'd helped him out and he wanted to return the favor. Even if since it wasn't raining, he was starting to feel claustrophobic in the room. He climbed out his window and slept on the roof top instead; it was a steep roof, but he'd slept in more awkward places and his things were safe and sound in the room.

The next few days took on a similar pattern. He had found out how to earn money, so he went to the market square and began working on his 'act', trying to make it more appealing so he could earn more. He juggled scrolls, kunai, even shuriken with no small amount of difficulty, but juggling didn't seem as interesting to these people, and it certainly wasn't eye catching or head turning. So he started doing back flips and hand stands anything else he could do to drag people's attention out of their every day musings and turn it toward him.

When the day was done, he'd take his hard earned money and go to the inn for the young woman's great food and a place to set down his stuff. Kyuubi never ceased complaining about the humiliation Naruto was putting himself through, insisting this was not the reason they traveled across the sea.

It didn't take too long for that routine to break though. While he was performing one day, a scruffy young child rushed by, scraping up his money. So, Naruto stuffed his scrolls away, quickly shouldered his pack, and then went after the kid. That was his hard earned money and he felt righteously indignant about it getting stolen by a kid who looked like he could be just barely younger than Naruto himself. That kid didn't have to work around a language barrier and he should be able to get his own bloody job and make his own bloody hard-earned monies.

Catching up to the kid was easy for Naruto, but when he found him, he also found a rag-tag group of kids in a dingy alley, their home being a series of tents on the ground. The older boy was handing coins out to all those younger kids. With a sigh, Naruto felt himself at war. He didn't have any money, but neither did they from the look of things. They shared certain similarities. Naruto's youth was similar to theirs…

Kyuubi insisted they take back what was rightfully theirs, but Naruto shook his head and went back to Market Square. Unfortunately by the time he made it back, there weren't any people out and about, and it was growing dark. He didn't want to infringe on the young woman's kindness so he found a shadowy alley and wrapped his travel blanket around himself and curled up around his belongings.

It wasn't the first time he had ever slept in an alley, and neither would it be the last he figured. Kyuubi said,_**You wouldn't have this problem if you'd taken your money back.**_

"I know…" he whispered. "But they need it more than I do…"

_**These pathetic ants; you could crush them! You should crush them!**_

"I could…" he agreed. He fell asleep in the alley.

He was famished by the time morning came around. He wanted food, but without money he had no option but to go without. Especially since the fruits he'd bought several days ago were gone. All he had left was one raw potato and that wasn't precisely very appetizing raw. He'd rather try to get some money and save the potato for a last resort, since it would hold up well enough for a while.

He went back to Market Square and picked up where he left off, performing on Market Square for slim pickings. This time he went back to the young woman's inn and saw her outside, weeping as men with a stinky box loaded up two of her giant chickens. She was left with a sack in her hands which she dropped and coins spilled all over the rickety stone path.

Naruto could understand what was going on as that stinky box on wheels rolled away with no horses to guide it. He didn't need to speak the language to understand.

Times were hard; maybe it was just his eyes, but he saw it everywhere. He viewed the distinction between those who were doing well and those who weren't. This entire street was dark at night, and somehow it seemed more empty during daylight than it did at night. Meanwhile, other streets were more lit up at night.

Other shops didn't have broken windows, or most likely didn't have holes in the floors leading into a basement. The other inns were brightly lit up with strange orbs of light, while this young woman had to make due with what candles she could afford.

He felt a burning sensation inside him, one of determination. She had shown him a certain kindness he hadn't seen in so long, and through thick and thin, he would always pride himself for being Naruto Uzumaki. He was the greatest Shinobi in the world, and now that he was off on his own, he could choose his _own_ missions. He decide in spite of the language barrier they suffered, he wanted to help her. He wanted to stop her tears.

So he moved toward her and knelt beside her in the dirt. He dug coins from his pocket. He'd earned twenty of them. He held the handful out to her, speaking to her even though she wouldn't understand him. "Can I get a room here, miss?"

She lifted her head from her hands, peering at him through watery eyes. He saw those doe-like orbs glistening and though neither of them could smile then, he helped her collect her money from the ground and went inside with her. As he used the wash water she provided to clean himself up as much possible, he tried to think of ways he could earn a lot of money to restore her building to a brighter shine.

At last, he had to settle on what he had: his performing in the square. He had to make it better. More breath taking. Much more exciting. He juggled and performed some Taijutsu exercises. That got him about twenty of this world's monies a day: Gil, he recalled the captain said it was. He needed to up his game. As a child, he recalled being most impressed by the performers who did the most daring, most dangerous stunts.

The next day he went and found those scruffy looking kids that stole from him the other day. They all tried to rough him up, but a quick bonk on the head and after they saw he could stand easily on a vertical wall, they eventually stopped waving sticks at him. Finally their leader kid procured half a dozen coins and tossed them at Naruto, as if trying to make amends by returning some of the stolen money.

This was the point where Naruto was very sore for not knowing the language but he made due with a piece of rock on the dirty stone wall. He drew an image on the wall of the kids helping him with his act, then he picked up the coins on the ground, split the number in even two parts, and tried to indicate that he would share his earnings fifty-fifty if the kids helped out.

He waited by the wall as the kids deliberated several paces away. He hoped his meaning was clear. At last their leader approached him and held out his hand, spitting in it. Naruto figured this was how these people made deals in this world, so he spat in his hand and shook the kid's. Finally he pointed to the image of what he wanted to do.

By mid-day, he and the rough-n-tumble group of kids from the back alley were at the square with a meagerly practiced routine. The younger kids seemed to have a blast just banging on pots and pans, singing some foreign tune off key (or it was off key to him at least), and dancing around in the foreground. In the back, the bigger kids had taken apart one of their tents from the alley and they were using the rope that had held the tent up to stretch out like a line.

Six kids, between twelve and eighteen were holding that big rope up in front of the fountain rim. Naruto stood on the taut rope, the kids struggling to hold it up as Naruto juggled scrolls. With the kids banging on pots and singing and dancing, and Naruto juggling on a rope, they definitely attracted more attention and Naruto went off with a record day of earnings: 101 Gil.

At the end of the day, the kids seemed to be sure Naruto would bail on their agreement, but instead he formed a Rasengan in his hand and used the vibrantly purple chakra to light up the coins as he counted them evenly. He gave fifty-one coins to the kids thanking them (regardless that they wouldn't understand) and made his way with his things toward the inn.

The young woman looked up from her desk when he creaked through the door. He put the coins on her counter, and got a big smile from her. Through repetition, he thought he was starting to figure out what quacks and barks these people made meant what. Every time he entered, the girl seemed to say something he thought just might mean 'hello' or something of that nature. Immersing himself in a country without a single hint of how to speak the language was quite difficult.

When he got to his room, he found the sheets he usually slept in were fresh and clean, not dusty anymore. But he still felt rather claustrophobic in the walls and slept on the roof.

The next day, he went to find the kids again in the early morning, only to find their whole camp had been packed up and was gone. He sighed. He supposed it was too good to last; he helped them get money and they uprooted and went elsewhere.

By the time he got to market square, he was met with a giant surprise. All those grimy kids were all waiting for him at the fountain. He was about to go over and meet them when a hand caught his arm. He nearly cut it off, until he saw it belonged to the captain of the sea vessel that brought him over.

"I been lookin' fer ye." The captain said.

Naruto stared at the captain, wondering what business the captain wanted him for.

"Ye saved me ship an' me crew from th' Kraken. Now that's some'at t' be amazed over."

"I didn't do it for you." Naruto said. It was true enough. He had just gone after that giant, 'legendary' beast because he felt if he could defeat a legend he would know he was the best shinobi there ever was. And he did. And then suddenly everyone worshiped him and he wanted to vomit because it was so annoying.

"Maybe not. But I'll be thankin' ye anyway. Here. Maybe this'll help ye in yer travelin' as ye look fer what ye searchin' fer."

Naruto looked at the book the sea captain had shoved in his hands. It was old, full of leaflets and collected bits of parchment. It had a hand drawn map and several maps folded up and stuffed in the book. More importantly…

"O'er th' years, I put together a book of things t' help as I traveled t' th' disappearin' continent. Words ye use, translatin' in'ta words we use. That like. I writ ye a page how t' say th' letters ye see too. That be right here, this loose page. Just keep th' band 'round th' book, so's ye ain't losin' no pages." The old man said.

Naruto smiled at the man. "Thank you." He truly felt grateful; it would be a big step toward acclimatizing himself to this world just to overcome the language barrier. He parted ways from the gruff sailor almost sad that it would be the last time he ever saw him. Still, he didn't think he wanted to encounter the 'ticket home', which was basically that man and his ship _Hyne's Blessing_.

He rejoined the kids and even though they made significantly less from their routine than the day before, he felt satisfied and when they all packed up and parted with equal shares, he had thirty-two coins in his pocket and the key to the language barrier in his bag. The kids returned to their alley, and Naruto returned to the inn, providing the young woman with his money and soon finding himself in his dingy little room, in borrowed pajamas, reading over the parts of the book that was written in his tongue. He utilized the letter page to help him sound out words in the foreign language.

For some reason, the whole language felt wrong… largely because it wasn't his own and it made him feel like he was barking nonsense. He supposed eventually it would start making sense to him.

* * *

Writers block: Those cold, unfeeling keys just stare at me, mocking me...


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: Mercenary For Hire  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: I make no profits.  
_

_I didn't know Chocobos could be milked either. _

Chapter 3

He slept poorly after coming in from the rain days after getting the Sea Captain's journal. The dry sleeping clothes that the young woman gave him, though much too big for him, were still somehow too tight and made him feel like he was being slowly choked. He ended up taking them off around two in the morning and tossing them on the floor, lying only in his boxers. The blankets too ended up on the floor before morning came.

In his mind, he kept thinking about those kids. He saw their hungry faces, heard their growling bellies, but just like Naruto they didn't whine or complain about being unfed, poorly clothed, or cold. The kids were smiling and bold although they did have a slightly rude tone of voice especially their leader.

He wordlessly met with the children day after day, and he was getting a handle on this foreign place's language, even. He could say hello ('Hyne be praised!'), goodbye ('Gerroff ya lily-livered slag!'), and had come to find out that the word for friends was 'whore' in this foreign place. He could successfully thank someone ('A fine wench you are'), tell someone yes ('O'course!') or no ('Fuck off!'), ask a market vendor about their prices ('I'll not pay more than a Gil for this slop!'), and most importantly he could tell someone who was bothering him to back off ('Fuck me!').

And all of this progress he had the Sea Captain's journal to thank for – although he did think his accent might be throwing some of the words off because his young hostess and all the children he was performing with in the square would give him odd looks whenever he tried one of his phrases on for what they'd attempt miming at him.

In the mornings, he'd come to find a bowl of hot, clean wash water outside his door minutes after he'd got out of his creaky bed, no matter _what_ time he got up. When he came out to the lobby, the woman who ran the creaky little hotel would have a large, delicious breakfast waiting and oh, man, for the food of this world he swore he never wanted to go back. Sausages, bacon, eggs, pancakes, waffles, omelet's loaded with all sorts of fixings, fruit salads, buttered scones, muffins, pastries... every morning was a new breakfast, and every morning he dined like a... like _he_ were Hokage.

And that wasn't beginning to note the fact that every evening he returned to the hotel, Missy (he was guessing it was her name because she frequently pointed at herself and said 'Missy') outdid her breakfast feast with something at dinner. She never made more than enough for two people, but the burst of flavors when he tried steak, or chicken, or potatoes... He'd grow fat and lazy before too long, Kyuubi would tell him. Food was fast becoming his weakness, but after years of neglect and being forced to eat whatever he was given and living under the belief that Ichiraku Ramen was the only good food around, he was starting to learn otherwise.

He was barely a few weeks into this new life, and he _loved_ it.

When it rained, it poured, so he'd stay and help around the hotel. He hated milking the giant chickens (Missy kept saying 'Chocobo' when she wanted to indicate the giant demon chickens) but that was one thing he seemed to get to do. Missy showed him how to bathe the Chocobos to keep them clean one day and that had been quite fun, not so much in dealing with the Chocobos, but at least spending time with Missy was great. They still could barely understand each other, but when he snuck up on her and soaped her, he got her squealing and laughing and then it was an all-out soap and water war that eventually took them out into the pouring rain and became a muddy battle that resulted in very little work getting finished that day, but kept smiles on both of their faces all day.

He and the kids were performing one day in the square when nature decided it was time to release its bowels. Instantly everyone was drenched, and before Naruto and the kids could pack up their things, the streets were already becoming soggy and flooded.

_**That's just like nature,**_ Kyuubi groused. _**Things go well, and it decides to piss on us.**_ Kyuubi hated being cold and wet. Not that Naruto _enjoyed_ it any more than Kyuubi did.

"Shut up, its probably just a place where rain's a frequent occurrence." Naruto told the complaining demon.

The kids, either wet and wanting to get out of the rain or curious to find where he dried off in the rain followed him back to the hotel, all nineteen of them. They hadn't made a whole lot of money in the scant time they'd been out. Naruto had given all but five of the coins to the kids, and when he got to the inn, he gave the five coins to the woman. She didn't question the fact that it was such a small amount even though he'd given her more in the past days. For that, he was grateful.

Moments after she'd handed him warm, dry clothes (a pair of bib-overhauls and a tee-shirt with a pocket on the left breast), the door opened and nearly two dozen children came tumbling in from the rain. Naruto wasn't surprised. They'd followed him back to the hotel and huddled outside of it, likely debating whether they go in or not. Missy was surprised when they came though. After a speedy conversation between Missy and the kids, the leader of the group gave up their coins and the kids were rushed off for towels, bowls of hot wash water, and dry clothes (with less holes than the patches they wore).

_**You're getting attached to this place… What ever happened to traveling? Seeing the world?**_

Naruto shook his head, eyes on the scene. "So what if I'm attached? For once I'm doing well. I feel welcome…"

The next morning, bright and early, Naruto woke to the sound of arguing, shouting, and weeping. In a habit born of years of practice, he dressed and armed himself. His scrolls were put in the closet and he rushed to follow the sounds. He had to step carefully to avoid a sleeping child on a ratty bedroll. The small inn didn't have enough beds; Missy had only four rooms. However, she had plenty of old bedrolls stored away made from the shed feathers of all her Chocobos, and those had been lain down with as many blankets as the kids could provide (once they dried up) and with as many that Missy had to spare to accommodate children in the halls, and floors of the lobby and rooms.

The kids in the lobby were awakening to the sound of the shouting as well. Naruto pulled the front door open and went out. Missy was weeping, drenched to the bone from the rain. Naruto pulled his jacket off and hung it on her small shoulders, his eyes going to the gray box emitting a horrible odor from a pipe at the tail end. A chocobo was already in the box, and another was fighting the burly men who wanted to load it.

_**Looks like she's selling her Chocobos. **_

"Yeah," Naruto murmured, as Missy turned look up at him with watery eyes. He wrapped his arm around her waist, hugging her. "You do this to make ends meet, huh?" he asked the girl, though she couldn't understand him. She seemed to understand his sentiment, though. She buried her face in his mesh shirt, sobbing into his chest.

An hour later, it was still pouring; Missy had composed herself reasonably well, made up a large breakfast for everyone to share, and soon everyone had work to focus on. Naruto was curious what a set of double doors led to from the lobby, knowing he'd seen the hotel was much bigger outside than he'd seen of the inside, and Missy never had him clean here. He took one of the candelabras in hand and slipped inside. His candle did little to offset the huge darkness, and he instantly began sneezing from the dust he kicked up.

Naruto hastily took out a kerchief to block the dust somewhat. Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could make out a nearby wall sconce. He checked the wick for oil, and the base, just to be sure it hadn't dried up, and then lit it. The light from it offset the darkness enough that he could see another one on the edge of the light. He went around the entire room, finding the wall sconces to light, and just as he finished the last one, he heard a startling loud grinding noise.

Dropping into a defensive stance—who knew what monster made that noise?—he turned around. Missy was by the entrance, illuminated in a glow from the lanterns as she turned some kind of handle. The grinding came from that handle, and there was a squeaking noise from above. Just barely on the edge of the lights from the walls, he could see that what was lowering was a giant chandelier, the crystals reflecting dully the light from the wall lanterns due to the dust gathered on them.

"Wow…" Naruto murmured approaching the magnificent work. Many of the candles were burned down to the core, but there were still plenty that hadn't burned completely. Missy didn't yell at him for being in this room, (he was sure he would have understood the intent behind the words if she had, even if he didn't understand the words themselves) so he began lighting the candles that were left. When he was done, Missy began cranking the wheel on the wall and he watched in amazement as it lifted to the tall, arched ceiling, illuminating the room as it bounced off mirrors placed on the ceiling and off the dusty crystals on the chandelier itself, creating a warm, if faded glow.

He realized that he stood in the center of a room full of chairs that slowly leveled downward toward a staging that had once been as magnificent as the chandelier but now was no longer in its prime. Chairs looked down toward that stage, covered in dust and cobwebs. Near the ceiling, long windows were so covered in dirt and grime they no longer let light in.

Naruto glanced at Missy. She had a small quiver in her lip, and unshed tears in her eyes as she clutched her hands before her chest and looked at him. She looked like she was praying for a miracle…

Naruto walked down to the stage. He couldn't give her a miracle, but he could try to make her smile. Shoving a chair out of the way, he stood at the center. Her eyes were upon him, fixed rapturously. He gave her a little smile, taking out kunai and juggling them. When he finished and caught them all safely, he spread his arms wide showing the sharp objects and displaying his unharmed body. "Ta-da!" he said, hoping she'd understand his tone.

She giggled and clapped her hands. "Ta-da!" she agreed, imitating his word.

He took out a fourth kunai as she came closer and a couple of the kids who'd heard her clapping and laughing came to see what was going on. Soon he had a whole audience of them. He was juggling multiple kunai and dusty things he found on the stage. When juggling alone didn't seem enough, he jumped onto the chair, leaning it onto one leg with his momentum and keeping it perfectly balanced (by cheating and using chakra – not that they knew that!).

Soon they were hooting and hollering and in spite of the leaking roof putting water on the floor of this room and the occasional bugs or mice that skittered out of the way of someone's feet, they were all having a grand old time.

At dinner that night, Missy and the leader of the pack of orphaned kids—Naruto called him Peter because he kept hearing that word around the boy—sat bent with their heads put together. Missy and Peter weren't too far apart in ages, and their conversation seemed pretty swift and knowledgeable… then again, for all Naruto knew, they could have been talking about anything and Naruto wouldn't know it.

It was still raining the next day (Naruto wasn't surprised) and everyone automatically set to work cleaning and fixing things where they could be fixed, as if everybody knew their jobs. Naruto felt at a loss as he watched the kids set to work. Over half of them went to clean in the stage room with a large box of candles to replace the dead ones, and a ladder (Naruto thought it was stolen but didn't say anything) to climb and wash windows.

Missy seemed to be wandering around performing her tasks with the same love-struck expression Sakura used to wear around Sasuke many, many years ago. He didn't know what to do, and with so many people around, it made it harder to simply _find_ something. Instead, he went out to the stables and smiled at the two Chocobos still there. He was getting used to the giant horse-sized chickens. So too, it seemed, had they gotten used to him. One eyed him peculiarly, the other nuzzled him affectionately with its beak.

He cleaned the pens out.

This time it was days before the rain stopped and by that time, the kids had really done a number on the place, straightening and cleaning and polishing.

Missy came to him. She led him to the stage. She carefully sounded out the words of her request, in hopes that he'd understand. "Will you… perform here… for me? Ta-da?" she made a cheering gesture.

He wiggled his nose. He didn't truly know what he was about to agree to, but it sounded like she wanted him to do something so instantly he nodded. "O'course!" he agreed and she beamed at him. Her smile was worth it.

The next few days was a flurry of movement. Kids were there, and then they weren't in spite of the rain, and then they were again and weren't again. Then, all at once people started streaming into the ratty old inn. Each of them would give five Gil to one of the kids who would lead them to a seat in the well-lit stage room. Peter and Missy were handing out small parchment bags of buttered seed corn they had heated until it popped into a fluffy, tasty substance. Naruto wanted to sit and eat that fluffy stuff, but felt guilty about not having done any helping around the place in the last few days. He'd just sat mostly trying to learn the quirks of the language from the sea captain's journal. Any time he tried to do something, one of the kids would automatically take the job from him. It was so annoying! He wasn't earning his feed!

As a matter of fact, he refused to eat breakfast that morning. Didn't even go to the cramped table.

He was about to leave when Missy grabbed Naruto's arm and led him into the kitchen, then through another door in the kitchen that led straight to a stairs onto the stage. She smiled encouragingly at him and then led him up onto the stage. She pulled him in front of a room full of people sitting and eating the fluffed corn.

She said some words to the crowd that seemed fantastic and grand.

_**That's what she wanted. To parade us like pets.**_

But Naruto didn't feel the same way Kyuubi did. He finally knew what he could do to help her. These fools came to watch him juggle on a stage and she'd make money off it. _This_ was how he could earn his keep. It made him so glad to have a purpose again.

He'd make sure they were awed.

He started with casual juggling and then did a few slight of hand tricks. He balanced on that rickety old chair (by cheating – not that they knew) while juggling. He created a clone of himself which wowed the crowd and got them clapping and on the edge of their seat. He juggled with his clone until the kunai were a blur in the air. He had his clone stand at the back of the stage, and in spite of its objections to being a potential pincushion, he had it stand with its arms outstretched and outlined its body with shuriken. He and his clone sparred, and everything they said to each other earned a laugh from the crowd as if their spar was a humorous skit at a comedic play even though the people couldn't understand a word of it (and some of the things being said weren't censored for children's ears).

Then he and his clone bowed, and his clone then puffed out of existence with the sound of clapping and laughter.

Missy was practically glowing that night as the people left.

_**They give us nothing yet we are how they earn their keep! These ants should be crushed! Why do you insist on letting them live?**_

"Shut up and go to sleep. We belong here, and Missy is amazing at cooking…" Naruto smiled and slept as easily as he had the very first night at the inn at that. He was _useful_ again.

He'd been performing at the inn a full month, and soon the prices for seating and fluffed corn started to go up as Missy could afford to raise the price. The small hotel was soon able to see fixes to broken doors, windows, floors. Seats in the performing room could be replaced. Missy started giving Naruto some of that money. He tried to decline it, but she wouldn't take it back. No matter how many times he tried to stash it where she'd find later, she always found it and returned it to his desk.

Having lived now two months in this new world, he was doing much better at struggling to understand the language. He could now hold semi-intelligent conversation with simple ideas and words, though he could actually understand more than he could speak.

He was approached by a balding man in his late fifties if Naruto's guess was anywhere near accurate – and it typically wasn't far off; this was one of the things he'd been trained on at the academy, because it was essential when reporting.

"My name is Patricio. I've a business prospect for you." Naruto saw Missy freeze nearby. Naruto thought about the words, trying to sort them out and make sense of the big ones. "I'll pay you five hundred Gil a night to perform at my hotel."

"Fuck off." Naruto said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. The man looked shocked, as if hearing 'no' for an answer was a big surprise. Every other hotel turned him away when the rain was pouring down and he didn't have much money. Missy didn't. "Missy help me. Missy good. Patricio…" he thought for a moment. What was a strong enough word in his limited vocabulary? "Patricio bitch."

The man was purple with rage. Naruto felt a smile come to his face. Suddenly 'bitch' was his new favorite word in this bright new language. Then he took extreme pleasure showing Patricio to the door. It wasn't raining out, but Naruto made sure Patricio landed in one of the dozens of muddy puddles still in the street.

Feeling smug, Naruto leered down at Patricio, walking over to put his foot on the man's back and knock him further into the mud. He wasn't sure who felt more vindictive over the offer: himself or Kyuubi. Kyuubi was angry that someone would suggest they could be bought, although Naruto knew the fox well enough to know that if the offer had been one fresh, live child a night and Kyuubi was in control then Patricio would have Kyuubi in the palm of his hand. Kyuubi loved fresh, young human.

As for Naruto, he just was angry that his own success and the chance of making money made the man want to help him, not out of the kindness of his own heart like Missy had done.

"Fuck off, Patricio bitch!" he growled and then walked away. The man got on his hands and knees, spluttering about the indignity of such treatment (or at least it sounded to Naruto from the tone that was probably about what the man was saying).

He went back inside and went about his business as usual that night.

The next day, buff men in uniforms came to Missy's little inn. It wasn't hard to figure out these men were the authority in the little coast town of Gulron. Considering they followed Patricio, who pointed at Naruto with a gnarled old finger and walked with a pathetically fake hobble (Naruto did _not_ hurt the man and he knew it; he'd been quite gentle in his treatment the day before), Naruto knew they were there for him.

Naruto had been a shinobi for much of his life, hobbling bad men and women and when he _wasn't_ a shinobi, he was learning how to _be_ a shinobi and hobble the bad men and women. So when these men came he decided against causing a scene and went along peacefully. They hobbled his hands with a pathetically thin manacle he could as easily slide his hands out of with a few dislocated fingers as he could pick the lock. They searched him for weapons as Missy argued, "He's a juggler! Just a performer, what are you doing? This is wrong!"

Weapon after weapon were pulled off Naruto's various body locations and set on a table. The buff men's eyes bulged a bit when the pile kept growing and growing with sharp pointy objects. Naruto's coat wasn't just for looks, or heavy just because of the cloth. It had dozens of hidden pockets. When they realized that even the zipper and sleeves and collar of his jacket conveniently concealed sturdy lengths of garrote wire, they decided it would be best just to confiscate his jacket entirely. He was glad: some of the hidden weapons were last resorts, and to take them out would destroy the jacket he had grown to be so fond of.

"Do you have a permit to have these weapons?" one bulky man asked.

"He doesn't speak our language very well, Commander," Missy said, wringing her hands nervously.

The man looked annoyed. "Do – you – have a – permit – to carry – weapons." he repeated slowly and loudly as if Naruto was stupid and doing so would make him understand. It was his gesturing that allowed Naruto to realize the general idea of what he was talking about, but he didn't like to encourage people who talked down to him like that so he gave the man nothing for his efforts.

Peter moved to speak then, "Oi, law dog. He's a foreigner; he'd need to protect himself from fiends somehow when he travels!"

"Quiet, both of you." the town guardsman snapped. He grabbed Naruto's upper arm. "Come on then; maybe a night in lock-up will keep you from assaulting old men."

"Assault!" Peter growled as Naruto allowed himself to be led away. If it were Naruto doing the hobbling, he'd have made sure the feet were tied close enough for mere baby-steps and tied the wrist manacles together to the ankle chains so the prisoner would be forced to walk awkwardly and lessen the chances of escape.

Patricio looked smug as Naruto was led past him. Too smug to be sure. So, Naruto swept the old man's legs out from beneath him. That time he knew a little damage was done, because the old man was heavy enough to take the fall.

"Ahhh! He attacked me again!" Patricio cried.

"No he didn't! You fell on your own!" Peter yelled. "And if you don't get out of here, I'm gonna rough you up myself!"

"Oi!" the guardsman yelled. "I'll take you all in if you want!"

So, Naruto was put in a large room with a barred in chamber inside it. He lifted a brow at the wide bars, but said nothing to the fact that even Chouji could squeeze himself through there. Even if he had said something, he wouldn't have the words in their language to say it so they wouldn't understand. From the day they started at the academy, all shinobi had weekly sessions with medics who performed a special bone softening technique that helped in their line of profession. After years of having that technique done on them (usually from age three to ten on a weekly basis) their bones would break and splinter less, they could get themselves out of tight squeezes, and it helped them be more agile all together. Their hearts and lungs remained protected, because the bones still absorbed any blows; it was just that the softened bone distributed the shock waves along their length.

Inside this metal cell with its white painted bars were three wooden benches. It was eight in the morning (thankfully clocks were pretty much a universal idea and he'd been able to adjust). It had taken some time getting used to a clock that told time without sun like the sundials or having to wind it up on a daily basis. This place was so much more advanced than his world, and yet they had loopholes for criminal escapes such as prison bars well over half a foot apart and flimsy manacles. He wondered if the clocks were able to move using some sort of chakra technique...

This metal cell sat in the center of a large, bare stone room. At least these people were smart enough to put the cell in the center of the room in a barred in chamber, not on an outer wall. Although Naruto had yet to see anything to attest to the people of these new lands being capable of breaking out of a flimsy four-inch thick stone wall like this building seemed to be. The shinobi prisons outer walls were three feet of stone with another three inch-thick metal paneling on the walls and floors.

Their building contested to the weakness of the people of this new world. Or perhaps it was aimed to show that they were such a peaceful people, they didn't really need heavy bars and walls to keep their common criminals in. If it was the latter, Naruto hoped it _stayed_ such and that this world stayed relatively off the map from his own.

Outside the little cell in the center of the room was a large, empty space. The only thing other than the cell was a desk and a chair in which a guard would sit. From the haze in the guard's eyes as he stood up when Naruto was brought in, Naruto could tell he'd previously been napping.

He sat down cross-legged on a bench, wondering how long he was going to have to serve as punishment for roughing up Patricio. It was clear that idleness was punishment enough in this world while in his own, idleness was what caused people to do wrong.

Figuring there was nothing wrong with meditating and cycling his chakra. Cycling chakra was considered wasteful; normal shinobi didn't do it because they didn't have the chakra reserves to waste. Jinchuriki were different. Old Jiraiya had taught Naruto if he didn't cycle his chakra, his seal could become overburdened and crack, or shatter all together. If there were cracks on the seal, Kyuubi and Naruto would fight for dominance of his body and he might end up like Gaara. If the seal shattered, Naruto would die instantly. It was the only way Naruto could possibly die that wouldn't also kill Kyuubi. Every other way he could die, Kyuubi would go to the Underworld with him.

Teaching Naruto about seals, seal reparations, and most specifically his own seal had been the last thing Jiraiya ever taught him. Naruto still missed the man dearly. He may have been a crooked old pervert who made Naruto transform into a girl or else he might refuse to train him, but he still truly cared. Those people of Konoha just didn't understand how much Naruto worked to keep them safe…

_**They were fools… you should have crushed them…**_ Kyuubi whispered vengefully as Naruto's thoughts turned to his old home.

Naruto ignored the fox and delved deeper into himself. As a child, meditation had been taught to him as completely emptying the mind. Since that form of meditation had never actually worked for him, Jiraiya later taught him to meditate by finding something that made him happy in his life and focusing on that. He thought of Missy and the rag-tag group of orphans and felt a calmness spread throughout his body as he focused on them.

Once he was calm, he was able to sink himself into the brooding tunnels of his mind; these cold gutters had gotten worse over the years as he grew more and more unhappy. They were the true reflection of his misery. Anyone else who thought of the stores in their mind might view it as some happy, cozy log cabin with a crackling fireplace, or a library. Naruto's had become just like the sewers of Konoha that he'd been stuffed into when he was five years old.

Down at the end of the tunnels, he found the seal and the metaphysical demon. He began circling his chakra and the seal lit up, showing each and every line and symbol that was part of the intricate working. He inspected the seal for cracks or fissures that needed repair. There was just a tiny little fissure in a line, so he repaired that and then continued to circle his chakra.

By the time he finished with it, the sun had gone down and the guard – who was changed every two hours – was changing again. He was surprised when some kind of hairy lion-like demon stumbled into the jail with a tray of food. The guard opened the cell door with an eye to Naruto still seated on the bench. The demon made Naruto nervous, but he soon saw its coordination was lacking and relaxed. It walked over, tripping and sending the tray skittering. The soup spilled on the floor.

Naruto grew furious at the extreme reaction of the guard for the pitied little demon. The guard kicked the demon and it shrieked and curled up. Both Naruto and Kyuubi were pissed. He could barely restrain himself as he shoved the guard. The guard left the little lion-like demon with Naruto in the cell, slamming the door shut and locking it. He then went to the desk and picked up some sort of device, talking at it.

Naruto looked at the little demon, trying to calm down. It looked scared. Crouching down, he approached it just as he would a frightened wild animal back home – confident, assured. He crawled toward it. The meat eating teeth suggested it had once been a predator, but its attitude suggested it had been tamed or enslaved.

The guard was watching Naruto and the demon, but Naruto ignored him. He was a threat only if he came near again. Pointless abuse was something Naruto could take even less than abuse with a reason.

Seeing that Naruto wasn't looking to threaten it, the demon lifted its head up and looked at him with those wide golden eyes. It got on all fours and sniffed in his direction, so he stopped crawling forward, stilling his motions.

_It must smell Kyuubi_, Naruto thought. It was an off-putting thought, but it came to mind anyway.

The little lion demon moved forward and started to sniff Naruto very closely, crawling around him like a curious kitten. When Naruto felt it sniffing too close to his genitals he backed away from it. It stood up, placed its giant paws on his shoulders, and stared deep in his eyes.

More of the guardsmen came, at the call of the other one. They stood and watched as Naruto and this little demon curiously checked each other out. Naruto had dealt with seventy-foot bugs, hundred foot toads, two hundred foot slugs, and boys that sprout claw-hands for wings because of curse marks. He'd dealt with giant sand raccoons, and angry mobs, and men who used puppets and living clay bombs.

If he ever thought he'd experienced it all, then that thought was shattered the instant he met a giant chicken. Then, as if to mock him, those thoughts must have been stomped on violently in a tantrum after he milked said giant chicken. Why was he still so shocked at things, he wasn't sure. Certainly new things kept happening in this world.

The creature scampered toward the barred cell door when called by the guards and it left. Shortly later it returned and had to scrub the floor with a mop and bucket. Naruto helped the creature out, and after he was given a new tray of food. This time it was naught but two sandwiches. He was grateful, having not eaten since breakfast. He could last without food, but it made things a little less boring as he could focus on other than his hunger.

Not too much later, a greasy looking man was brought in. He was piss drunk and almost immediately passed out on a bench. More people were brought into the tiny chamber smelling of alcohol. Some had bloody lips, noses, or knuckles suggestive of having fought with one another. The more the benches filled with these vile stenches, the more he regretted going along peacefully.

Naruto was debating the benefits and disadvantages of breaking out of the cell when more people were brought in. One was taller and broader shouldered than Naruto, but his hair was the same sunny blond. Hands covered in black cloth screamed silent assassin; the boots contradicted such a profession being hard and clunky. He'd never walk silently in those things, not in a million years. A blue vest covered his torso and with no shirt underneath it, Naruto could see the barest tease of a midriff and toned chest. Naruto thought it was somewhat stupid to go so bare in such vulnerable places; Shinobi wore string covered wire mesh for lightweight protection beneath shirts and various other sensitive spots. It wasn't exactly a defense against piercing weaponry, but Shinobi blacksmiths could craft flexible mesh armor that would withstand a good amount of slashing pressure to save a man's precious organs as much damage as possible.

Walking with stiff blue jean material on his legs, and a heavy but well-worn white coat, with big muscles Naruto presumed the man was a hard worker; perhaps a sailor with his wind-chapped lips and dark tan.

Behind him, two more people were being escorted in to the tiny, filling cell. The man behind the blond was even taller, with black skin of a sort that Naruto had never seen before. He'd seen men with blue-gray skin of sharks, and men who had snakes for tongues. He'd seen women with rabbit ears and boys with tails that wagged. But to his experience, it was the first time he'd ever encountered a man with skin the color of the night sky. That man had an open vest on, and loose what looked to be a sampot; a long rectangular piece of cloth worn by wrapping it around the waist, and pulling it away from the body, twisting the ends together and pulling the ends between the legs, then held in place by a piece of cloth or metal belt. His boots were as clunky as the blond's, and his curly hair seemed to be a balled up mass on top of his head.

The woman being escorted was quite possibly even smaller than Hinata and hardly looked like she could pick up chopsticks much less do someone harm, but then again Naruto was definitely one who knew the smallest ones were typically the most dangerous; they were underestimated, typically very intelligent patient, not to mention a smaller person didn't have as much weight to hold up so had the potential to be faster than a larger, bulkier person. The thing that made Naruto stare was her one red eye, silver hair, and the eyepatch. She could be related to Kakashi, or something, if it weren't for the red eye! Maybe half-siblings...

_**You're boring me to death with contemplation! Let's just kill everyone and get out of here... Although that woman does look delicious. We could take her and make a slave of her...**_

As usual, Kyuubi's running commentary was unwelcome yet he felt the need to speak it anyway. Still, half the time Naruto wondered if he might go crazy without at least Kyuubi to talk to. Of course, then he recalled that without Kyuubi, he wouldn't be in the boat he was in. He'd have friends and more importantly, a family that was alive.

Ignoring the fox, Naruto tried to pay close attention to what was being said over the yammering of the frothing drunks. Ordinarily it might not be a difficult task, but he had a drunk on the bench next to him who kept trying to cop a feel on breasts that just weren't there. He was seriously getting ready to knock some teeth loose.

As the three were stuffed in the practically overflowing cage, the place became suddenly silent and people stared at the tall blond. Whispers (in spite of the silence) fell from sobering lips as if the owners didn't even realize they were saying it. "The Sorceress's Knight..." they were afraid.

Curious, Naruto found himself standing up while everyone else seemed to be shrinking away. Once an entire bench was freed up, the blond and his cronies sat down and the blond cracked his neck and leaned back against the bars with what seemed to be a careless sigh.

"Ahh, there's nothing better than a little elbow room!" the blond chuckled, stretching himself out. His bones made popping noises, creaking like an old civilian man's. Naruto eyed the man with the emerald orbs more closely, regarding him with trained eyes as Kyuubi perked up.

_**He's big and strong… The flavor won't be the same as a succulent youngling…**_

"Shut up already," Naruto muttered, rolling his eyes. "I don't want to hear more about what you do to babies…"

_**Mmm, don't you?**_ He voiced a nasty chuckle that sent a shiver down Naruto's spine.

"ARRESTED." The woman said flatly, kicking the blond in the shin before sitting beside him. The blond winced and massaged his leg.

"Yo, man, can't you stay out of trouble, ya know?" the black man asked.

"I can't help it people are idiots." The blond scoffed. As Naruto tried to understand all of the words they were saying, they continued without concern that he had difficulty eavesdropping. "Besides – the guard started it."

"IDIOT." The woman scowled.

"Hey, watch the language, Fu, I'm sensitive you know." Blond said.

"Leonhart's going to be pissed when he finds out what you did, man. Real mad, ya know?"

"Ahh who cares about puberty boy?"

Naruto had finally figured it out; they were talking about the trouble they were in, he was sure of it. At least these newcomers didn't totally reek.

"Bein' a mark hunter don't pay jailing expenses, Seifer." The black man pointed out.

"Well in that case, maybe I'll go apply to be puberty boy's body guard. I hear Trepe's looking for someone."

Naruto tuned out the words then because the conversation was too much for him and there weren't any body clues to go off of to understand it. One phrase stuck with him, though. 'Being a mark hunter'. He wondered what it meant. It sounded like something a person did…

The morning after that, he was given back his things and let out of the jail. Apparently twenty four hours in a small cell was considered punishment enough for acts of violence or aggression. Or maybe he was let out early because the guards didn't really believe he was in the wrong to bully the old man. Either way, he was let out and he wandered his way back to Missy's. As he passed through the market square he and the kids performed in before, he noticed it had been taken over by some dancing gypsies. He stood back, eyeing them with a small smile before making his way back to Missy's inn.

Missy was so happy to see him again, she ran up to him and hugged him. He had to brace himself or they would have fallen over in a heap. Lunch felt like a feast, and then he helped with dishes.

Before he knew it, he was back on the stage performing. Suddenly everything felt so routine and bland…He'd been happy before, but now? What had changed, he wondered.

That night, he stood outside watching the stars when Missy joined him, pulling a small blanket further about her shoulders. For a moment, they stood in silence, both looking up and lost in their respective thoughts. She was the one who broke the silence.

"Is something wrong?" she asked slowly, allowing him a moment to place meaning with her words.

Sighing, he ran his hand through his hair. "Uneasy," he told her, trying to convey himself and be understood. "Bored."

She stuck a hand out of her blanket and grabbed his, squeezing his fingers encouragingly. "You will always be welcome here," she told him right off the bat. "But you're not obligated to stay. You can leave if you want to…" she assured him.

He smiled at her. "A fine wench you are," he told her, thanking her as the Captain's log said was the way.

Her eyes smiled and she leaned up to kiss his cheek. "You mean 'thank you' and you're welcome."

Naruto brought his arm around her shoulders and again looked at the sky. He was relieved to have made up his mind at last. Soon he would go. The kids could carry on the stage without him, and no doubt they _would_ do so. Missy's little place no longer needed him, and neither did she. Until he'd made his mind up, he hadn't realized he was so antsy to get going.

"What mark hunter?" he asked her.

She gently pulled his arm, silently requesting he follow her. He did, curious where they were going. They went inside, dodging makeshift beds everywhere. She didn't lead him into his room, but rather led him into hers. Hers was as poor as the rest, signs that collectors had come and gone and left nothing in their stead. Opening his mouth to question her, he felt a finger on his lips. "Shh… Tomorrow," she whispered quietly, tossing her blanket back on the bed and letting her well-worn robe fall to the floor. "I'll answer your questions tomorrow…"

She wore a ragged old night shirt, and that was it. She looked at him with a plea, and with trust in her eyes as she took his hand and placed it on the small breast beneath that worn cloth. He could feel the blood rushing south and gulped. She took his hands and walked back with him to the bed, sliding back onto its surface and tugging his hand to urge him to join her.

_**This is perfect! Take her! Take her now!**_

Naruto did want to. He hovered over her; she lay on her back, clearly wanting from him. He wanted to do all sorts of things to the young woman beneath him… but he found himself pulling away. He was horny as all fuck, but he pulled away from her and left, getting his scrolls from the room he'd been using, shouldering his pack, and leaving before the young woman could chase after him. It felt wrong… She was beautiful, and he could have lain with her that night, but…

He rushed into an alley, hiding himself away. His hand was the only gratification he had that night. It didn't feel right to share her bed, only to leave again the following day. And if he were to lay with her, and she became pregnant? He would be gone, and she would be left to cope alone. No, the next morning, he'd leave this town once he could see where he was going.

...TBC...

THANKS FOR ALL THE REVIEWS!


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: Mercenary For Hire  
**Author: Tsubasa Kya  
_Disclaimer__: I do not own Naruto or Final Fantasy._

Chapter 4

As it turned out, the next morning that little creature from the jail had found Naruto in that back alley. It was hunkered down in an upright seated position, staring at him. Naruto froze, staring back. Then, slowly and quietly he said, "Hey little guy..."

The creature huffed out a deep sigh, shuffling closer an inch.

Naruto reached in his pocket, pulling out the bit of bread he swiped from Missy on his way out. "Are you hungry?" he asked it. He slowly held out the offering. "It's okay... you can have it..." It occurred to him that animals from this world probably didn't understand his language, but he ignored that in hopes that his intent would get across.

The little orange lion-like creature sniffed the bread tentatively before its huge paws swiped it and it skittered off across the alley to eat it warily while watching him. Naruto couldn't help but smile. He had to be going, but he sat there and watched the creature. It felt _honest_ in a way that humans couldn't be. Animals were instinctive, and so was Naruto. This was the same creature from the prison. He couldn't make the creature go back.

"Do you want to come with me?" Naruto asked it, doubtful that it understood his words. It turned its eyes completely on him, cocking its head curiously. He tried again, "Come with me... don't go back there..." all that happened was the creature finishing the food off. He couldn't force the creature to go with him. He didn't even know _what_ the creature was! All he knew was that it looked lion-like and he didn't want it to go back to a place where it was unappreciated and abused. The irony of the idea didn't escape him.

He definitely couldn't force the little creature to come along. It might be happy with the ungrateful people it lived with, just as he had been for a very long time.

He couldn't wait. He had to escape from here so with a simple little wave to the creature, he took his things and ran up the wall, leaping over alleyways and using the good old fashioned 'Shinobi Roadway' toward freedom.

When he jumped off the last rooftop and landed in a crouch on the ground, he heard a thud behind him. Turning to see what it was, he was faced with the image of the lion-like creature and it had tripped on a branch, doing a nose dive into the dirt.

It had followed him, but now it was scrabbling to get out of his line of vision. Understandably, it didn't trust him entirely just yet. Even still, he was glad the little guy—or was it a female?—had followed.

Turning his head forward again (but keeping his ears peeled for his shadow), Naruto looked at where he was. Hopefully his company wouldn't lose interest and turn back... If he could find food and leave some for it, maybe it would keep following. He really didn't want it to go back to where it was abused in the prison.

Now outside the town, he saw the world outside the strange village was even stranger. The trees were small in comparison to those of his home, and the very earth itself seemed dead in places, as if someone had used up the earth's chakra. The grass was tall, and he could hear the rustle of critters in the waist-high shelter. Among the creatures was his shadow.

He left at a run, going slow in case the little lion couldn't keep up. Soon the village was put behind him, and movement behind him in the grass seemed to continue to be the lion. He needed a name for it, he thought. The creature wasn't a _thing_ after all...

Naruto stopped at a tree. What more proof did he need that he wasn't in Konoha when the very trees themselves were so wildly different. This tree was not even twenty feet tall, which surprised him. Seeds alone from trees in his world were tall as a man. He sat at the base of the tree (he would rather sit on the branches but they seemed so... fragile...) and dug in his pack. He had to have _something_ to eat in there. His stomach was growling.

He found nothing, but something hit him on the top of his head and bounced to the side of him. He jumped, an instant burst of adrenaline racing through him. What had just happened? There was a little green seed from the tree on the ground... but nothing in the tree, and he saw no one around but him. Some travelers were far down the grassy field leaving the little village but he doubted they could see him much less be anything of a threat to Naruto.

A rustle in the tall grasses around the tree showed Kaito – that was what he determined to call the lion-like creature – was inching out of the tall grasses into the short grass toward the seed that had hit Naruto on the head. It kept an eye on the seed and an eye on Naruto. He slowly put the kunai away that he had pulled out. He didn't want Kaito to think he had his 'claws' out.

_**You are such a weakling, attaching to a mere Moomba.**_

A Moomba? Was that what this animal was called? There weren't any in his world... then again, he had seen odder things. And yes, he was attached. He got to be that way very easily. And for it, he suffered, but that wasn't anything new. Naruto thought Kyuubi ought to be used to it by now. Still, if he could give Kaito a better life than he had, then he was going to! He lived through the abuse, so that he could protect others from it.

_**Just kill it, cook it, and eat it.**_

But it was just hungry! It was gnawing on that seed and- wait...

Animals truly were brilliant. He smiled grimly and looked at the tree. The green seeds were edible. He reached up and grasped one from the branch, plucking it off and sniffing it. His movement had scared Kaito off into the grass, poor skittish Moomba. So Naruto tossed a couple of the tree's seeds, letting them roll to where he knew the moomba to be.

He then settled down under the tree, feeling the warm sun and the brisk westerly breeze on him. He took a bite into the seed, tasting the sweet, yet tangy taste on his tongue. The texture was rough, and though it was green on the outside, it was white on the inside. At the center, he found hard, black things that he didn't like to chew through so he spat those out. Still, he enjoyed six of those tree seeds and then lay down for a nap. Sleeping in the alley hadn't been all that comfortable, but here with the rustling grasses and the tree branches and leaves to lure him into the realm of sleep, he was unable to resist the call.

An hour passed and carried on the blowing winds were voices that woke him. He recognized the voices from the prison immediately, and so not wanting confrontation Naruto decided it was better to just dart off into the tall grasses and hide. He wasn't particularly afraid of anyone in the new world, but he didn't know them and they didn't know him. He didn't want to hurt anyone.

"Did you see that?" one voice asked. Naruto was struggling to comprehend the words.

"See what, Raijin...?" Naruto remembered that voice in particular. It was the blond from the prison. Provided blond-man wasn't traveling with new people, that must make the first voice belong to the dark skinned man.

"Somethin' was over there, by that tree..."

"IDIOT." That was definitely the woman with the Kakashi-like eye patch.

The blond's voice resounded as if he were next to Naruto, though Naruto knew the man was a distance away. "Oooh, it's a prairie ghost, Rai. Oooh!"

"Cut it out!" there was a sound of a weak scuffle from the two men. "Damn, Seifer..."

"Why are you so scared of this mark anyway?"

"GHOST."

"Oh right, the ghost story. Come on, Rai, that's just a story fed to children to keep 'em in bed. It's probably just a stupid old fiend. We get the fiend, then we get the necklace and take it back to its owner in Deling City and get paid. A ghost didn't steal the ring."

_**Take the pathetic humans down. They could feed you for days!**_

Naruto rolled his eyes. He wasn't going to kill anyone. He left behind the shinobi life that might have forced him to kill one day. His life had been death free as much as he could make it. Besides that, actually eating a human being? He couldn't do it.

_**If you eat a human, you'll never turn back to eating animals again... The flavor-**_

If only Kyuubi had an off switch...

"All the more reason not to eat humans," Naruto whispered to the fox, remaining hunkered down in the grasses.

"Did you hear that?" Raijin (Naruto was assuming that sounded like a name...) said.

"Hear _what_?" Seifer asked.

"GHOST." the woman said. If Naruto wasn't mistaken, that was humor in her voice.

"Rai, come on. Get a hold of yourself."

Naruto's whisper had been heard by Raijin. Naruto heard them walking past the tree. Hmm... he could follow... They would probably be on their way to a new town, and they had talked about the mark thing again. He wanted to know what that was, but hadn't been able to get Missy to explain it previously.

He shouldered his travel pack and the toad scroll, shuffling through the grass behind them, glad the prairie grass was so tall. He supposed being a jinchuriki left him comfortable with walking on all fours, and behind him, Kaito the Moomba was following.

To be on a self-assigned mission to stalk them was invigorating, even more so because they had no idea he was there. He was just an animal rustling the grass, like his little friend Kaito. And if they were to start getting the idea, he would have simply disappeared using a henge. But he didn't need to, because these silly foreigners had no idea he was there. They didn't know he was stalking them, following them to their next destination.

He listened to them talk, laugh, and tease each other.

_**Remember the days when you were wanted? Oh, right... you never were. **_

Naruto frowned. Maybe that was true, but he was going to make a life here and _be wanted._ And not in a bad way either. Everything he ever wanted was here, and now he didn't have to go home because there wasn't a way to get home. He could have been wanted by Missy, but something had stopped him. He wasn't sure what it was. The attraction had been there. He had wanted her enough, but perhaps he respected her too much to get close to her when he knew he would be going away.

Or perhaps it was the thought of what Iruka would say if he knew that Naruto had gotten a woman pregnant and left. Or maybe... maybe it was simply how torn he would feel, needing to go where he was useful and to be stuck in a port town with a connection to his homeland had him feeling trapped...

In that sense, was he running away?

_**One of these days you will finally understand I'm all you have.**_

The trio he had been following turned off the road into a wooded area, with trees barely forty feet high. The fact that they were in a wooded area meant Naruto had to choose carefully when following. He put more distance between them, and then ran up the trunk of the tree. It was sad when he only had to take a few steps to get to a branch that would be high up and still hold him. He simply felt... so low to the ground... Back home, these trees were practically foliage!

Oh well though. He had no choice but to deal with it. So far, there was too much _good_ here that considerably outweighed the bad. Then again, when he was jumping from one branch to another and it forced the tree to rustle. It was attracting attention. He almost got spotted – twice! So he had to switch to ground stalking... and with all the undergrowth, the leaves rustling... well, Kaito could stalk him and barely be noticed, so Naruto needed to do something different...

But what?

Kiba could move noiselessly... Out of everyone, Kiba was so close to being invisible when it came to stalking someone it was insane. This, of course, did not count Shino as he stalked at a far greater distance and just used his network of bugs to keep track of where his prey was.

Move quieter. That was what he had to do. Certainly it would be hard, but this was practically a new training method. Back home, things were more solid than here. Of course it was different... so many things were! What did he expect from a completely different world? This world had machines even stranger than Snow Country had with their coal burning trains.

So he put himself to the test. He couldn't get caught. Not that he was going to whether or not he took precautions. It wasn't like passing the Nightingale floor was even required as a Shinobi anymore. Maybe it was in, say, Jiraiya's day, but with advances in ninjutsu and genjutsu Naruto could go streaking butt-naked through the forest and not worry for a second that he would be caught.

However, life was full of challenges to make and overcome. Naruto's life in Konoha had become stagnant, living in a constant state of poverty and the new challenges out of his reach beyond the Chunin Examinations which he knew in his heart they would never let him pass no matter how great he got. The Elders were too powerful, and too afraid of the Jinchuriki.

Each time he heard the crack of a stick under his feet, he was tempted to throw up a genjutsu that would allow him to appear to not be there to his prey's eyes or make himself look like a log. It was a conscious effort not to, and very difficult at that. Still, he could feel himself doing better and better.

_**What good will this do you when you won't even bother to eat what you hunt – or do as much as harm! It's far more entertaining when you sink your claws into them!**_

Well, Kyuubi would be a long time before he felt the pleasure of a human dying at Naruto's hand. He made a vow to himself; he still had the proof on the back of his hand. A scar that hadn't healed perfectly. Though Kyuubi loaned Naruto his ability to regenerate, that only enhanced Naruto's _natural_ ability. Any injury that would have healed without scarring normally, did so.

Kaito followed Naruto. Naruto followed the trio. After they left the forest (pitifully small tree garden) Naruto could see another forest in the distance only this one was made of tall, looming structures of metal. Well, it hadn't taken long to find his next destination, had it? His own world, a man could wander for a couple days without finding another village if he didn't have a map. Here, it hadn't even been a couple of hours.

As the trio left the trees, Naruto and Kaito hung back, watching them go. He considered talking to them, but changed his mind. These three carried foreign weapons, and he could barely speak the language. He didn't want to create a misunderstanding. Surely he could take them on any day of the week, but considering he didn't even know what day it was he decided it was in his better interests to step back and wait for them to reach the metal jungle before he went hopping in.

Settling himself under a tree, he made a guess that they'd be at least fifteen minutes to walk there. He pulled out fruit he'd stuffed in his jacket, tossing one off into a bush. Only when he heard a pouncing noise and then a crunching noise as Kaito ate did he start eating the second one. He dug in his travel pack, finding the coin pouch that held all the 'Gil' he'd earned doing tricks.

What was he now? Had he gone from a Shinobi of Konohagakure into the traveling juggler? A mere performer? He did enjoy it. There was a certain irony of using his skills as a shinobi for something good and positive when most of the techniques were originally created for subterfuge and death. The people of this world were impressed thus far of his skills, minus the confounded policemen who confiscated all his weapons. Surely they had to be bright enough to realize a man with that huge of an arsenal wasn't just carrying them around for child's tricks.

After he finished his foreign (yet tasty) fruit, he dumped the coin pouch out beginning to count how many he had of each kind. He had two-hundred-thirty-four silver Gil, and fifty-six copper Gil. Fishing out the Sea Captains log, he figured it was time to understand money and how it worked.

He sat reading it for a great deal of time, trying to understand the captain's scratchy writing and where in some places water had blobbed out the ink. Eventually he realized there was a descriptive drawing that showed a general conversion of Gil to the money from his world, and from there he was able to determine that his money system was broken down far more than theirs. While he had coins of various sizes with different shapes cut out of the center, and parchment notes of different sizes and ink-dyed colors with different letters written on it, here they simplified it into simple coins.

He matched up copper and silver coin to two of them. From his understanding, he ought to be paying one-hundred silver Gil for a room to stay in. That was a _lot_ of money. Missy had been letting him stay for whatever he could give her. It wasn't too late to turn back...

_**No, it isn't too late to turn back. But do you want to sit on that stage all your life, wasting your time with these pathetic humans and their craving for entertainment? Will you abandon the traveling all over this world you came here to do? **_

Kyuubi did have a point. But still, with the money he had he might only get two days stay in a hotel. What was he thinking? Unless it was raining, he didn't _need_ a hotel! He'd become spoiled at Missy's place, and he didn't even sleep in the building every night.

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at himself for how stupid he was. Two years. Two _years_ with no bed, living in a tent or just a bedroll, hiding himself in a barn during the winters... Now suddenly he was worried about not making due without a bed in two days? Honestly that was rather ridiculous.

He completely emptied his pack to see what he had for supplies and travel equipment. Perhaps he hadn't quite thought all this through… Out dumped: One strange box from Tsunade, a few dozen scrolls, a spare set of clothes, a tightly rolled up blanket, a Scribes' pouch for creating exploding tags or writing letters, extra weapons, camp collapsible cooking kit, various and rather useless odds and ends…

That couldn't be all he brought! He shook the bag a bit more and out fell… Make-Out Paradise… His face fell.

Kyuubi was laughing so hard…

"What was I thinking?" he asked himself, picking up the book. He opened to the front flap. There, blazing in a mocking red ink with a ridiculous chakra technique to make the letters glow (wasteful technique, really), was Jiraiya's hand-written dedication.

_For The Best Dobe-_

_ Cheer up. Work hard. Live well. Drink plenty. And for fuck's sake, reach puberty!_

_ Toad Hermit Jiraiya_

Once, that had indeed been a serious question. Would he make it that far? The question always changed when he reached something. Would he see the return of Sasuke? (Not that _that_ mattered in the end…) Would he ever find love? Would he do this… would he do that… would he..?

Cheer up. Jiraiya wanted him to cheer up. To make the best of things. He could do that.

_**Oh, joy. Full of passion and motivation now aren't you? Why don't you sing a jolly tune and skip a little?**_

"Oh, shut up, you," Naruto grumbled to himself. However, he wasn't as irritable or miserable. He packed his bag back up, and the book, the bright orange book with its blaring 'Adults Only' cover was stowed carefully. Shouldering his pack, Naruto stood and held his head high, grabbing the Toad Hermit scroll. Oh, yes. Today, Naruto was ready and so this world had better be prepared. He spun around on his heel and took the first step toward that big metal jungle – and then, the world (forever one step ahead of him) tripped him on an upturned root.

He just barely caught himself, and for dignity's sake he glanced back and forth to be certain no one had been around to see that. No one except Kaito in the bushes, and the fox in his head. Damn that fox. Cheeks pink, he continued toward the town. His first task was to find a supply store. Surely they had to sell tents (for those rainy days), and sleeping bags or an equivalent. His travel blanket wouldn't be enough for the cold nights. He needed food too.

After that, or perhaps while looking, he needed to find out what a 'Mark Hunter' was. The trio he had followed were talking a lot about them. Combined with talking about 'Gil', he was assuming it was a way to make money. Perhaps he could make money that way? And just maybe it would be a way to –

Naruto felt his train of thought suddenly fleeting. His eyelids were heavy.

_**Don't blink!**_

"W-why?" Naruto asked, feeling like his lips were insanely thick. Two seconds ago he was wide awake! He'd hardly taken five steps out of the wooded area and suddenly he had this urge to just sleep…

_**It's a sleep spell. Avoid blinking and you won't fall asleep. The minute you blink is the minute you fall asleep. **_

"Oh… That sounds complicated," Naruto didn't know who or what had cast the spell on him, but he knew better than to ignore Kyuubi. Falling asleep was a bad idea. He slapped his cheeks and turned his head feeling sluggish. At last, he saw who had used the technique on him.

Green eyes stared at Naruto with a blatant egotistical confidence. The tan face was plastered with a haughty smirk. He was draped in a long white coat and carried a very oddly shaped sword. It was the same man he'd been following; the same one he'd been jailed with. His partners, the red-eyed woman and black skinned man, stood behind him at the ready.

"Told you! This field is exactly where we'd find the necklace, and it was easier than I thought. We're going to get a hefty reward for that thing." the blond said.

"DIFFERENT." The woman said.

"Look at the picture!" the blond tore out a piece of parchment from a pocket which contained a hand-done drawing. "It looks just the same. What do you think, Rai?"

Naruto struggled against the sleep spell, but it was as if he was paralyzed too… He couldn't do anything but stand in one place.

"Looks the same to me, man."

"JAIL." The woman argued – whatever that meant, not like Naruto could muddle out the meaning to everything they were all saying.

"Don't worry, Fu, we're not going to go to jail for this one. He's a thief, so we'll just steal it right back."

They were coming close to him. Naruto's heart was racing. He had never, ever been this helpless – not even when he was under the influence of Shikamaru's shadow tag technique.

_**Do not blink! **_

"That's not helpful," Naruto mumbled, because all he wanted to do was close his eyes.

He saw the trio's expression at his foreign words; they looked confused, but they were still advancing. The blond reached out, and Naruto watched in horror as he undid Naruto's necklace. "Don't, that's my baa-chan's," he said thickly but they didn't understand. He was pulling back with Naruto's necklace. He struggled furiously against the invisible bonds that kept him stuck there, but his body didn't even move a bit.

And then his eyes were too thick, too heavy to stay open. Naruto was asleep before he had a chance to fight, his body slumping down into the grass. Had he been awake, he would have known the Moomba had crawled out of the grass and sprawled across Naruto's chest and stomach letting out a low, rumbling growl at the trio.

Naruto was forcibly in the gutters of his mind. He paced in front of the cage, fuming. While he was _stuck here_ anything could be happening to his body!

_**I told you, don't blink. You don't listen to me, do you? I don't talk to you for my good health you know.**_

Naruto stopped pacing, turning to face the cage. His lip curled. "SHUT UP! All you do is complain! You could have warned me they were there!"

_**It isn't my fault you don't pay attention. You have the advantage of eyes, ears, and a flesh body. I am a spirit stuck in this wretched loaner body.**_

"I hate you." Because Kyuubi was right. He had been careless. He would have never been caught so unawares back home. He had given himself bias over this place, that no one could take him because _he_ was _so good_. Because their prisons were unsatisfactory. Clearly he'd been wrong. He had underestimated these people. They had powerful chakra techniques that gripped a man, even a Jinchuriki, and held tight. What else would they have to make up for their out-of-shape bodies and seemingly flippant living style?

_**You know you don't. I am the only family you have.**_

Naruto didn't respond to that. It didn't _need_ a response. Eyes burning with anger – he would have his revenge (was this how Sasuke felt once?) – he looked into the glowing eyes of the demon. "Tell me how to not get caught by their chakra techniques."

_**He he he… alright… They're magic, not chakra. The people of this world have forgotten the ability to use chakra. Move too fast to get hit with the spell. Dodge.**_

The cruel laugh was discomfiting, but after years Naruto knew to disregard it. Kyuubi liked to mess with Naruto's mind. One thing Naruto knew for sure, he was going to find that man and get his Gran's necklace back. This was no petty change stolen by starved children. This was a precious trinket that Naruto didn't take off when he bathed.

Naruto opened his eyes, seeing blue sky above. The weather didn't know he was having a bad day. Go. Figure. He was finally able to move, and no longer strangely tired. He checked himself over. Weapons all in place. The only thing missing on his body was the necklace. He turned and looked around him. The Moomba was lying on its side, unmoving. The shallow movement of its stomach let him know it was still alive. How dare they attack the little creature? It had blood on its fur and paws. At least it seemed to get a good swipe or two in.

He crawled toward it, gently checking the injury. It was healing at a faster rate than Naruto's did, so he thought it would be okay. Still, that was another thing he would be paying Mister Blondie back for. Naruto gently ran a hand along the creature's spine. "It'll be okay. I'll take care of you," he promised it.

He knelt by it until he saw the injury scab over, which only took a few minutes for it to heal that much. He wondered if it was a demon like Kyuubi and then shrugged it off. He would not bias his feelings for Kaito by thinking of him as a _demon_. Kyuubi had said he came from this world. Maybe Kyuubi wasn't a demon…?

_**He he he…**_

Nevermind.

Naruto turned around to find his things. To his increasing fury, everything was gone. He had a score to settle with that blond. His toad hermit scroll, the dedicated book from Jiraiya, the precious box from Tsunade, all the ultra-secret scrolls he copied from the library, the Rasengan scroll, and the captain's journal… He carried everything of value with him. And they had stolen it.

Naruto took out a kunai, looking at its sharp edges. Well someone had to pay. Jiraiya had taught him about seals, and Naruto was beginning to think carrying the giant pack of things was not a very good method. He had to come up with an alternate method of storage, so that brought to mind Ten-Ten's ability to seal weapons in scrolls. She was a true weapons-mistress, capable of utilizing anything put in her hands as a weapon.

It wasn't the way he wanted to go; if he sealed his belongings in a scroll and the scroll got stolen he would still be shit out of luck. He needed a more permanent solution, and Naruto of the Village Hidden in Leaves would not be beaten by that damn blond man.

He scowled, glaring at that happy sky. "Bastard."

Naruto _very much_ wanted to go after the blond, but he waited in the tall grass for Kaito. When the Moomba woke, he would head out. Hopefully it wouldn't be equating Naruto to danger and run off.

As it turned out, when Kaito woke, it (he, not it – Naruto checked and was certain of it) moved closer to Naruto and sniffed him tentatively as if being certain that Naruto wasn't injured at all. When Kaito's curiosity was sated, he rushed into the tall grasses. Naruto could hear the Moomba settling down to watch as if Naruto was his prey.

Good, Naruto couldn't help but think. Perhaps Kaito's feral side would develop some. It wasn't fair when an animal meant to be in the wild was domesticated and turned into a pet. Kaito had good instincts, Naruto didn't doubt.

Why Kaito trusted Naruto, he had no idea, but he wasn't complaining of the company. Maybe Kaito saw something worthwhile in Naruto that Konohagakure in its entirety had not. That very thought brought a tentative smile to the young man.

"They can kick us when we're down, Kaito," he said to the grass beside him as he stood up. "But they can't keep us down. We'll get our stuff back and teach them a lesson while we do it." He thought about summoning Gamakichi to help track the blond but changed his mind. Kaito was probably not ready for that. He'd track the blond himself.

That wasn't going to be too hard, he realized. The man's odd, heavy boots left an imprint in the softly treaded ground and headed right for the metal jungle. His lip quirked, and he clenched his fists.

_**Isn't this world much more exciting?**_

Naruto stretched himself. Indeed, there was a certain exhilaration to having purpose with his life. To having something to do. To the hunt, the chase, and then sinking his claws in his prey… No. Heh, nice try Kyuubi, he thought.

Once limbered up, Naruto took off at a healthy run toward the town with a burning desire in him to find the man. Kaito chased after him. The Moomba was much more graceful trotting on all fours. The gate had men in identical uniform policing it. They didn't seem to do much, or serve much purpose there. They just stood and looked imposing.

Naruto wanted to get in there. Was there a reason he would not be able to as he was? Well, better not alert them just in case. He would simply have to sneak in; this would give him an advantage. If no one knew he was intending to be in there. Not wanting to be seen, he stayed crouched in the tall grasses of the plains and headed south along the city wall. Once out of sight, he looked off into the grasses and stopped at the wall.

"Kaito, moomba… Kaito-moomba…" he called to the little guy. Please come, he thought. Amazingly, he did. Kaito nervously crawled forward, hunched like a beaten slave. It made Naruto feel hurt and upset that it would be so frightened. He gave it an encouraging scratch behind the ears. "We're just going to go in the town, that's all."

When he had settled, Naruto carefully picked the creature up and walked to the wall. Kaito shook in his arms but he was limp. It was a bit awkward carrying Kaito, as the creature was half as long as he was tall, and at least one-hundred-twenty pounds, and he was carrying him up a wall hanging on by the chakra on his feet. When he got to the top, he couldn't help but think how pathetic the wall was. A foot and a half thick, and they thought it would keep what out exactly? He could have punched his way through. Ino or Sakura with their Super Strength punches would have obliterated the wall entirely.

He shook his head and slid down the wall into an alley. He then set Kaito down. Time to find that asshole…

Naruto walked out of the alley, getting more than a few odd looks from the locals walking (and in some cases, simply loitering) around. He saw why as he looked at himself in the reflection of a store window. His outfit was filthy, his hair looked like a rats-nest, and his skin was dirty. He looked down at himself. Wow, he hadn't noticed how dirty he'd become.

He smelled himself and made a face at the stink he was finally noticing. Missy had freshly laundered his clothes enough, but he never really had a chance to take a bath and really scrub up. Add that to his list of things to do.

Ignoring how dirty he was, Naruto kept an eye peeled for the blond man. He was somewhere here. Naruto was walking along metal buildings with large glass windows, and doors that opened all on their own. It was strange to see. Kaito was following Naruto with a hop in his step.

When searching the streets wasn't working, Naruto tried talking to a person walking by. "Hyne be praised, whore!" he greeted them, as best as he understood how to say 'hello, friend'. The woman gasped, and the man with her took a swing at Naruto which he caught in defense and twisted his arm up behind him. There was a bustle around Naruto as people started noticing the problem, so he shoved the man away quickly and ran.

Rethink this problem. He needed to find a blond man, six-foot-three inches, green eyes, long white cloak, super huge boots, wears gloves, and smells faintly of cut grass and tree sap. How did he find a man like that, in a big metal jungle of a city? This wasn't Konoha or anything, and he didn't seem to be remotely literate. He was dirty, irritated, and miraculously, the Shinobi had been robbed. How very wrong was that?

**Hope you enjoyed! **


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